Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25072256›Full record

ArticleBritish journal of cancer2014

Comparing primary and secondary health-care use between diagnostic routes before a colorectal cancer diagnosis: cohort study using linked data.

J R Sheringham, T Georghiou, X A Chitnis, M Bardsley

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in British journal of cancer, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
21citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
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

21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Prediagnostic primary care consultations and imaging in emergency-diagnosed versus referred patients with lung cancer: a population-based linked data study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2026
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  14. Emergency diagnosis of cancer and previous general practice consultations: insights from linked patient survey data.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2017
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

J R Sheringham1] Nuffield Trust, 59 New Cavendish Street, London W1G 7LP, UK [2] University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London WC1E 7HB, UK.
T GeorghiouNuffield Trust, 59 New Cavendish Street, London W1G 7LP, UK.
X A ChitnisThe Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, Downs Road, Sutton SM2 5PT, UK.
M BardsleyNuffield Trust, 59 New Cavendish Street, London W1G 7LP, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSurvival in cancer patients diagnosed following emergency presentations is poorer than those diagnosed through other routes. To identify points for intervention to improve survival, a better understanding of patients' primary and secondary health-care use before diagnosis is needed. Our aim was to compare colorectal cancer patients' health-care use by diagnostic route.

methodsCohort study of colorectal cancers using linked primary and secondary care and cancer registry data (2009-2011) from four London boroughs. The prevalence of all and relevant GP consultations and rates of primary and secondary care use up to 21 months before diagnosis were compared across diagnostic routes (emergency, GP-referred and consultant/other).

resultsThe data set comprised 943 colorectal cancers with 24% diagnosed through emergency routes. Most (84%) emergency patients saw their GP 6 months before diagnosis but their symptom profile was distinct; fewer had symptoms meeting urgent referral criteria than GP-referred patients. Compared with GP-referred, emergency patients used primary care less (IRR: 0.85 (95% CI 0.78-0.93)) and urgent care more frequently (IRR: 1.56 (95% CI 1.12; 2.17)).

conclusionsDistinct patterns of health-care use in patients diagnosed through emergency routes were identified in this cohort. Such analyses using linked data can inform strategies for improving early diagnosis of colorectal cancer.

Indexed as

AdultAgedAged, 80 and overCohort StudiesColorectal NeoplasmsFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedYoung Adult

Identifiers

PMID25072256
PMCPMC4200083

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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.