Evidence map›Paper›PMID 22054334›Full record

ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2011

Identifying patients with suspected gastro-oesophageal cancer in primary care: derivation and validation of an algorithm.

Julia Hippisley-Cox, Carol Coupland

Open access · bronzeAbstract readMulticenter StudyValidation Study
In one paragraph

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. Cited by 29 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
29citing papers in PubMed, 7 pooled it
5.9field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

29 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Diagnostic Risk Prediction Models for Upper Gastrointestinal Cancers: A Systematic Review.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2025
    Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Guideline on screening for esophageal adenocarcinoma in patients with chronic gastroesophageal reflux disease.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2020
    Guideline
  4. Weight loss as a predictor of cancer in primary care: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2018
    Pooled it
  5. Guideline
  6. Pooled it
  7. Diagnostic value of symptoms of oesophagogastric cancers in primary care: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2015
    Pooled it
  8. Trial
  9. Trial
  10. Article
  11. Underlying cancer risk among patients with fatigue and other vague symptoms: a population-based cohort study in primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2023
    Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2020
    Article
  15. Availability and use of cancer decision-support tools: a cross-sectional survey of UK primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2019
    Article
  16. Review
  17. Article
  18. Improving early diagnosis of symptomatic cancer.Nature reviews. Clinical oncology · 2016
    Review
  19. Article
  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Julia Hippisley-CoxDivision of Primary Care, University of Nottingham, UK. julia.hippisley-cox@nottingham.ac.uk
Carol Coupland
University of Nottingham · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundGastro-oesphageal is one of the most common cancers worldwide. Evidence suggested that increased awareness of symptoms and earlier diagnosis could help improve treatment options and improve survival.

aimTo derive and validate an algorithm to estimate the absolute risk of having gastro-oesophageal cancer in patients in primary care with and without symptoms. DESIGN AND

settingCohort study of 375 UK QResearch® general practices for development, and 189 for validation.

methodIncluded patients were aged 30-84 years, free at baseline of a diagnosis of gastro-oesophageal cancer, and without dysphagia, haematemesis, abdominal pain, appetite loss, or weight loss recorded in previous 12 months. The primary outcome was incident diagnosis of gastro-oesophageal cancer recorded in the next 2 years. Risk factors examined were age, body mass index, alcohol status, smoking status, deprivation, family history of gastrointestinal cancer, dysphagia, previous diagnosis of cancer apart from gastro-oesophageal cancer, haematemesis, abdominal pain, appetite loss, weight loss, tiredness, and anaemia. Cox proportional hazards models were used to develop risk equations. Measures of calibration and discrimination assessed performance in the validation cohort.

resultsThere were 2527 incident cases of gastro-oesophageal cancer from 4.1 million person-years in the derivation cohort. Independent predictors were age, smoking, dysphagia, haematemesis, abdominal pain, appetite loss, weight loss, and anaemia. On validation, the algorithms explained 71% of the variation in females and 73% in males. The receiver operating curve statistics were 0.89 (females) and 0.92 (males). The D statistic was 3.2 (females) and 3.3 (males). The 10% of patients with the highest predicted risks included 77% of all gastro-oesophageal cancers diagnosed over the next 2 years.

conclusionThe algorithm has good performance and could potentially be used to help identify those at highest risk of gastro-oesophageal cancer, to facilitate early referral and investigation.

Indexed as

AlgorithmsAbdominal PainAdultAgedAppetiteDeglutition DisordersEarly Detection of CancerEnglandEsophageal NeoplasmsFemaleGeneral PracticeHematemesisHumansIncidenceMaleMiddle Aged

Identifiers

PMID22054334
PMCPMC3207088
OpenAlexW2132137210

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.