ArticleBMJ open2016
Determinants of general practitioner's cancer-related gut feelings-a prospective cohort study.
Article in BMJ open, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gut feeling for the diagnosis of cancer in general practice: a diagnostic accuracy review.BMJ open · 2023Pooled it
- The pathway and characteristics of patients with non-specific symptoms of cancer: a systematic review.BMC cancer · 2022Pooled it
- 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 · 2020Pooled it
- GPs' acceptability and feasibility for using point-of-care tests for cancer in primary care: a qualitative interview study.BJGP open · 2025Article
- Physicians' appraisal of parental concerns: a qualitative assessment.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2025Article
- A UK population-based case-control study of blood tests before cancer diagnosis in patients with non-specific abdominal symptoms.British journal of cancer · 2025Article
- Prevalence and characteristics of the 'bad feeling' among healthcare professionals in the context of emergency situations: A Bi-Hospital Survey.Journal of clinical nursing · 2025Article
- Article
- Learning from new colorectal cancers: a qualitative synthesis of significant event reports.BJGP open · 2024Article
- Impact of emotional competence on physicians' clinical reasoning: a scoping review protocol.BMJ open · 2023Article
- Patients' gut feelings seem useful in primary care professionals' decision making.BMC primary care · 2022Article
- Assessing and addressing vulnerability in pregnancy: General practitioners perceived barriers and facilitators - a qualitative interview study.BMC primary care · 2022Article
- Cultivating Doctors' Gut Feeling: Experience, Temporality and Politics of Gut Feelings in Family Medicine.Culture, medicine and psychiatry · 2022Article
- Primary Care Physical Therapists' Experiences When Screening for Serious Pathologies Among Their Patients: A Qualitative Study.Physical therapy · 2022Article
- GPs' use of gut feelings when assessing cancer risk: a qualitative study in UK primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2021Article
- Observational
- Article
- Gut Feelings Questionnaire in daily practice: a feasibility study using a mixed-methods approach in three European countries.BMJ open · 2018Article
- Diagnosing cancer in patients with 'non-alarm' symptoms: Learning from diagnostic care innovations in Denmark.Cancer epidemiology · 2018Article
- Abdominal symptoms and cancer in the abdomen: prospective cohort study in European primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundGeneral practitioners (GPs) use gut feelings to diagnose cancer in an early stage, but little is known about its impact.
methodProspective cohort study of patients in 44 general practices throughout the Netherlands, from January 2010 until December 2013. GPs completed a questionnaire regarding gut feelings, patient and GP characteristics, if they noticed a cancer-related gut feeling during patient consultation. Follow-up questionnaires were sent 3 months later requesting information about the patient's diagnosis. χ(2), univariate and multivariate logistic regression and multilevel analyses were performed.
resultsA gut feeling (N=366) is most often triggered by weight loss (24%, N=85) and rare GP visits (22%, N=76), but all triggers were not predictive of cancer in a multivariate analysis. Most GPs (95%) acted immediately on the gut feeling, either referring to a specialist or by performing additional medical tests. The average positive predictive value of cancer-related gut feeling was 35%, and it increased with 2% for every year a patient becomes older, and with 3% for every year a GP becomes older.
conclusionsGP's gut feeling for cancer proves to be a useful tool in diagnosing cancer and its relative high predicting value increases if the GP is older or more experienced and when the patient is older. How can younger GPs be trained to increase the predictive value of their gut feeling?
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