ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2011
How frequently do young people with potential cancer symptoms present in primary care?
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trial
- Knowledge of Cancer Risk Factors, Symptoms, and Barriers to Seeking Medical Help among Omani Adolescents.Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP · 2019Article
- Achieving a timely diagnosis for teenagers and young adults with cancer: the ACE "too young to get cancer?" study.BMC cancer · 2019Article
- Features of cancer in teenagers and young adults in primary care: a population-based nested case-control study.British journal of cancer · 2013Article
- Features of childhood cancer in primary care: a population-based nested case-control study.British journal of cancer · 2012Article
- Improving cancer outcomes: better access to diagnostics in primary care could be critical.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2011Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough uncommon in teenagers and young adults, cancer is the leading cause of non-accidental death in those aged 15-24 years. A prolonged period to cancer diagnosis in this cohort is reported and thought to be a consequence of the rarity of cancer in this age group, together with the complexity of presenting symptoms. Although diagnostic delay is perceived to be a problem for teenagers and young adults with cancer, little research has focused on their use of primary care services.
aimTo determine how often teenagers and young adults consult, their reasons for doing so, and how often potential oncological symptoms ('alert' symptoms) appear. DESIGN AND
settingRetrospective audit of consultations over 1 year. Three general medical practices in Scotland.
methodMedical records were examined for 2326 teenagers and young adults. Date of birth, sex, and free-text relating to the consultation were recorded and coded according to an agreed coding system; symptoms of potential oncological significance were coded as alert symptoms.
resultsA total of 1659 teenagers and young adults (71.3% of registered patients) attended their GP at least once. Females attended more frequently than males (P < 0.001), and older females more frequently than younger females (P < 0.001). Males exhibited no association between consultation frequency and age. The main reasons for consultation were pregnancy/contraception (15.8%) and infection (15.7%). Alert symptoms were uncommon, (reported in 4.0% of all consultations; 276 alert symptoms in 179 patients), and were not associated with age or sex. The most common alert symptoms were unexplained pain (34.8%), unexplained fatigue (14.5%), and lumps (13.4%). Two benign tumours were detected.
conclusionA high proportion of teenagers and young adults consult their GP. Alert symptoms are uncommon and generally occur in isolation. More research is required to confirm these findings in a larger cohort and to examine how GPs respond to such alert symptoms.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.