ArticleBritish journal of cancer2008
The importance of anaemia in diagnosing colorectal cancer: a case-control study using electronic primary care records.
Article in British journal of cancer, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02792023 (Usefulness of Fecal Immunochemical Test in the Diagnosis Algorithm of Iron Deficiency Anemia.), which is not on this map. Cited by 75 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Usefulness of Fecal Immunochemical Test in the Diagnosis Algorithm of Iron Deficiency Anemia.
Who cites it
75 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 137 citations in OpenAlex.
- Guideline
- Development, validation and effectiveness of diagnostic prediction tools for colorectal cancer in primary care: a systematic review.BMC cancer · 2020Pooled it
- Cancer diagnostic tools to aid decision-making in primary care: mixed-methods systematic reviews and cost-effectiveness analysis.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2020Pooled it
- Systematic review of clinical features of suspected colorectal cancer in primary care.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2014Pooled it
- The diagnostic value of symptoms for colorectal cancer in primary care: a systematic review.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2011Pooled it
- Positive predictive values of ≥5% in primary care for cancer: systematic review.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2010Pooled it
- The Important Role for Intravenous Iron in Perioperative Patient Blood Management in Major Abdominal Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Annals of surgery · 2016Trial
- The Exchangeable Copper-Zinc Ratio Links Sex Hormones, Tumor Burden, and Epithelial Remodeling in Colorectal Cancer.Biomolecules · 2026Article
- Anemia-Related Red Flags as Distinctive Early Indicators for Colorectal Cancer Diagnosis in Older Adults.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Age-stratified colonoscopy outcomes and referral-factor associations in the Swedish colorectal cancer fast-track pathway: a retrospective cohort study.Therapeutic advances in gastroenterology · 2026Article
- Article
- Cross-Cancer Transfer Learning for Gastric Cancer Risk Prediction from Electronic Health Records.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Sex Hormones and Iron-Related Biomarkers Associate with EMT Features and Tumor Stage in Colorectal Cancer: A Serum- and Tissue-Based Analysis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Association Between Risk Factors and Major Cancers: Explainable Machine Learning Approach.JMIR cancer · 2025Article
- Colorectal cancer risk stratification using a polygenic risk score in symptomatic primary care patients-a UK Biobank retrospective cohort study.European journal of human genetics : EJHG · 2024Article
- Prioritising primary care patients with unexpected weight loss for cancer investigation: diagnostic accuracy study (update).BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2024Article
- Article
- Article
- Trends in primary care blood tests prior to lung and colorectal cancer diagnosis-A retrospective cohort study using linked Australian data.Cancer medicine · 2024Article
- Leukaemia diagnosis and primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2024Article
15 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Although anaemia is recognised as a feature of colorectal cancer, the precise risk is unknown. We performed a case-control study using electronic primary care records from the Health Improvement Network database, UK. A total of 6442 patients had a diagnosis of colorectal cancer, and were matched to 45 066 controls on age, sex, and practice. We calculated likelihood ratios and positive predictive values for colorectal cancer in both sexes across 1 g dl(-1) haemoglobin and 10-year age bands, and examined the features of iron deficiency. In men, 178 (5.2%) of 3421 cases and 47 (0.2%) of 23,928 controls had a haemoglobin <9.0 g dl(-1), giving a likelihood ratio (95% confidence interval) of 27 (19, 36). In women, the corresponding figures were 227 (7.5%) of 3021 cases and 58 (0.3%) of 21,138 controls, a likelihood ratio of 41 (30, 61). Positive predictive values increased with age and for each 1 g dl(-1) reduction in haemoglobin. The risk of cancer for current referral guidance was quantified. For men over 60 years with a haemoglobin <11 g dl(-1) and features of iron deficiency, the positive predictive value was 13.3% (9.7, 18) and for women with a haemoglobin <10 g dl(-1) and iron deficiency, the positive predictive value was 7.7% (5.7, 11). Current guidance for urgent investigation of anaemia misses some patients with a moderate risk of cancer, particularly men.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.