Primary care delays in diagnosing cancer: what is causing them and what can we do about them?

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

21 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

1. Understanding "Alert Fatigue" in Primary Care: Qualitative Systematic Review of General Practitioners Attitudes and Experiences of Clinical Alerts, Prompts, and Reminders.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025
   Pooled it
2. Comparing cancer stage at diagnosis between migrants and non-migrants: a meta-analysis.British journal of cancer · 2025
   Pooled it
3. Understanding the role of GPs' gut feelings in diagnosing cancer in primary care: a systematic review and meta-analysis of existing evidence.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2020
   Pooled it
4. Direct access cancer testing in primary care: a systematic review of use and clinical outcomes.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2018
   Pooled it
5. Patient involvement in diagnosing cancer in primary care: a systematic review of current interventions.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2018
   Pooled it
6. Implementation of a Quality Improvement and Clinical Decision Support Tool for Cancer Diagnosis in Primary Care: Process Evaluation.JMIR cancer · 2025
   Trial
7. Educational Interventions to Reduce Cancer Diagnostic Delays in Primary Care: A Scoping Review.Journal of cancer education : the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education · 2026
   Review
8. Association of Neighborhood Social Vulnerability With Metastatic Cancer at Diagnosis.Cancer medicine · 2026
   Article
9. How do primary care consultation dynamics affect the timeliness of cancer diagnosis in people with one or more long-term conditions? A qualitative study.BMJ open · 2025
   Article
10. Sodium-based paracetamol: impact on blood pressure, cardiovascular events, and all-cause mortality.European heart journal · 2023
    Article
11. Optimization of a Quality Improvement Tool for Cancer Diagnosis in Primary Care: Qualitative Study.JMIR formative research · 2022
    Article
12. Estimating and testing the influence of early diagnosis on cancer survival via point effects of diagnoses and treatments.Statistical methods in medical research · 2022
    Article
13. Deep learning model for tongue cancer diagnosis using endoscopic images.Scientific reports · 2022
    Article
14. Association between use of urgent suspected cancer referral and mortality and stage at diagnosis: a 5-year national cohort study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2020
    Article
15. Finding paths with the greatest chance of success: enabling and focusing lung cancer screening and cessation in resource-constrained areas.Translational lung cancer research · 2018
    Article
16. Preventing delayed diagnosis of cancer: clinicians' views on main problems and solutions.Journal of global health · 2016
    Article
17. GPs' perceptions and experiences of public awareness campaigns for cancer: a qualitative enquiry.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2016
    Article
18. Micro-teams for better continuity in Tower Hamlets: we have a problem but we're working on a promising solution!The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2015
    Article
19. Cancer detection in primary care: insights from general practitioners.British journal of cancer · 2015
    Article
20. Help seeking for cancer 'alarm' symptoms: a qualitative interview study of primary care patients in the UK.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2015
    Article

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

Abstract

PubMed holds no abstract for this paper.

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