Health officials have recommended new age-based thresholds for ovarian cancer screening which could help the women most at risk of the disease be identified earlier.

Previously, testing for ovarian cancer has involved a blood test which measures cancer antigen 125 (CA125 levels), with women with levels 35 IU/mL or above being referred for further investigation, regardless of their age.

However, experts have warned that this fixed threshold approach can miss cancers in older women, while simultaneously causing unnecessary investigations in younger ones.

Now in a draft update to their guidelines, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has proposed more personalised criteria to reflect how ovarian cancer risk changes as women get older. 

It also said that CA125 testing alone is not sufficiently accurate to guide decisions for women under the age of 40, recommending those with persistent symptoms have ultrasounds. 

Eric Power, Deputy Director, Centre for Guidelines at the NICE said: 'The committee’s proposed recommendations will ensure more personalised, targeted testing, so women at greatest risk of ovarian cancer are identified and referred sooner.

'This tailored approach will mean GPs can make more informed decisions about which patients need urgent investigation, while reducing unnecessary ultrasound scans, freeing up NHS resources.

'These updates will ensure that our guideline reflects the latest evidence and will help improve the detection of cancer and ensure those who need it get swift treatment.'

The updated guidance also proposes that people aged 60 and over with unexplained weight loss - greater than five per cent over six months - receive further investigation or suspected cancer pathway referral.

It comes amid a rise in hormone replacement therapy (HRT) prescriptions in England, so it also called for more research into when unexpected bleeding while taking it should prompt investigation for endometrial cancer.

NICE guidance is used by GPs and other primary healthcare professionals to determine if patients with potential cancer symptoms should be referred to specialists for further examination.

It's estimated that there are over 7,000 new cases of ovarian cancer, and nearly 4,000 deaths caused by the illness, in the UK each year.

The deadly cancer is notoriously hard to diagnose because symptoms can be mistaken for less serious problems. 

Therefore, only one in five patients are diagnosed in the early stages when it hasn't spread to other parts of the body and treatment is more likely to be successful. 

Of women diagnosed in this stage, 93 per cent go on to survive for more than five years but this falls to just 13 per cent if they are diagnosed in the later stages.

Classic symptoms include stomach bloating and pain, pelvic pain, no appetite, feeling full quickly after eating and needing to urinate more urgently and often.

Other signs include indigestion, constipation, diarrhoea, back pain, persistent fatigue, unintentional weight loss and unusual bleeding from the vagina.

While any woman can get ovarian cancer certain factors can increase an individual woman's risk of developing the disease.

These include age - with the risk of ovarian cancer rising as you get older - and a family history of the disease.

Both the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes can both increase the risk of ovarian and breast cancer by more than 40 per cent and 29 per cent respectively.

Endometriosis - a condition that causes uterine tissue to grow outside of the womb, causing painful periods and heavy bleeding - also increases risk of the illness fourfold.

Being overweight can also make you more likely to get the illness, as well as having cancer elsewhere in the body. 

Ovarian cancer is caused by abnormal cells in the ovary, fallopian tube and peritoneum - all parts of the reproductive system - which grow and divide in an uncontrolled way forming a tumour. 

They can grow into the surrounding organs and may spread to other areas of the body but treatment depends on the type of cell the cancer originally starts in. 

Common treatment options for the disease include surgery to remove as much of the cancer as possible, chemotherapy to shrink the tumours and hormone therapy.