Objective To investigate the status of cognition on ovarian cancer and its influencing factors among menopausal women in Ningbo city, Zhejiang province, and to provide references for the prevention and treatment of ovarian cancer.

Methods Using random sampling, we conducted a survey with a questionnaire on awareness of ovarian cancer among 1 087 permanent female residents having at least one year's natural menopausal from September 2014 to April 2018. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the factors affecting the score of cognition on ovarian cancer.

Results The average score of cognition on ovarian cancer in the participants was 10.56 ± 1.26 for a scale with the maximum score of 20. The participants' cognitive score differed significantly by age, nationality, education, average family monthly income, occupation, marital status, fertility, and family history of ovarian cancer (all P < 0.05) . The proportion (70.56%) of the participants being aware of abdominal distension as a common symptom of ovarian cancer was the highest but the proportion (22.72%) of those knowing ovarian cancer staging was the lowest. The results of logistic regression analysis demonstrated that main influencing factors of cognition on ovarian cancer were age, education, average family monthly income, and family history of ovarian cancer (P < 0.05).

Conclusion The cognitive rate of ovarian cancer is low and mainly influenced by age, education, average family monthly income, and family history of ovarian cancer among menopausal women.