Relying on artificial intelligence for medical advice could be dangerous, a leading charity has warned, after finding that AI chatbots frequently provide inaccurate or outdated information regarding gynaecological cancers.
The Eve Appeal, as part of its ‘Get Lippy’ campaign, commissioned a YouGov survey of over 2,000 women across the UK, revealing a concerning trend. Nearly one in ten (9%) admitted to seeking health advice from AI platforms after experiencing gynaecological symptoms. While 28% were prompted to consult a doctor by the chatbot’s responses, a worrying 24% felt falsely reassured that their symptoms were not cause for concern.
Further investigation by The Eve Appeal involved testing 25 scenarios with ChatGPT. In a critical finding, the AI tool failed to identify ovarian cancer as a potential cause for persistent bloating lasting more than three weeks – a recognised key symptom of the disease. The charity also highlighted that much of the information provided by ChatGPT was either irrelevant to the UK health system, did not align with NHS guidance, or was simply outdated and inaccurate.
The findings underscore the significant risks of using AI for serious health diagnoses, urging individuals to seek professional medical advice instead.
We spoke to some women’s health experts who outlined five gynaecological signs that should prompt a visit to a doctor.
1. Abnormal vaginal bleeding
“One warning sign to look out for is abnormal vaginal bleeding, which could be bleeding after menopause, bleeding after intercourse or bleeding between menstrual periods,” says Dr Jane Benjamin, GP and women’s health lead at HCA UK Primary Care.
“It’s important to not ignore this because it could be a sign of an abnormality with the endometrium, such as an endometrial polyp, or an early sign of endometrial cancer.”
Dr Lucy Lord, honorary consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician at Central Health London, agrees and highlights the importance of learning what your normal pattern is to make it easier to identify any noticeable changes.
“If you get three months of a change in pattern, or one month with a serious change in pattern, I would recommend seeing a doctor about this,” advises Lord. “For example, if you experience just one episode of post-menopausal bleeding, you need to go straight to a doctor as this is a crucial change.”
2. Pelvic or abdominal pain”>pain
“The second thing to look out for is pain, and particularly pain that you’ve never experienced before,” says Lord.
The timing of the pain is particularly important.
“Different pains can help give you a clue to what might be happening,” says Lord. “When you have a period you release chemical prostaglandins which can make your uterus painful – this is not unusual, but if you have never had period pain before or the pain is new, that’s something quite important and may indicate things like endometriosis or adenomyosis.”
Pain during sex might also be a red flag.
“Pain during deep penetration tends to be much more related to problems within the pelvis,” explains Lord. “It could be to do with a sexually transmitted infection, endometriosis or adenomyosis. It might also be also be fibroids or caused by ovarian tumours.”
3. Changes in bowel habits
“You should always flag up changes in bowel habits to a doctor,” advises Lord. “In the advanced stages, ovary, uterine and cervical cancers can affect the bowel, but the most important reason to flag up changes in bowel habits is because of bowel cancer.”
4. Unusual vaginal discharge
“All women have a discharge and it changes during the cycle. For example, mid-cycle it’s egg white and towards the end of the cycle it becomes much more sticky and scant,” says Lord.
However, it’s important to notify a professional about any changes that are unusual to you, especially heavy discharge.
“Watery green discharge, for example, can be a sign of trichomonas vaginalis and a profuse yellow discharge can be a sign of gonorrhoea,” says Lord.
5. Persistent bloating
“If bloating is associated with other gastrointestinal symptoms, such as a runny tummy or cramping abdominal pain, it could be a sign of something like viral gastroenteritis, but we would expect these symptoms to pass quickly, within a few days to a week,” says Benjamin.
“If symptoms persist for longer than a week, I would advise people to follow this up with their GP, because bloating, feeling full after meals, or an increase in abdominal size can be potential signs of ovarian cancer, which is often picked up quite late because people are not aware of the symptoms.
“There is currently no screening process in place for ovarian cancer, so it is reliant on individuals reporting symptoms to get a scan in order to get a diagnosis.”
She highlights how ovarian cancer is sometimes misdiagnosed as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) because they share symptoms.
“People often label bloating as IBS, but you need to make sure there isn’t anything else going on before you can call it IBS,” says Benjamin.
What is the best way to keep track of any unusual gynaecological changes and explain them to a doctor?
Lord recommends keeping a detailed diary of any unusual changes to help doctors get as much information as possible during short appointments.
“Go to your doctor with an A4 folder of everything that you know about your medical history,” advises Lord. “Explain your current problem and show them notes from your last period and the previous period and highlight the dates where you had a bit of bleeding or pain which hasn’t happened before and that you weren’t expecting.
“Making a diagnosis is all about pattern recognition, and some patterns are benign and some are very clearly cancer. So, it’s very useful if you can present a doctor with a pattern of the way your symptoms have changed.”
