Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27725680›Full record

ReviewNature reviews. Clinical oncology2017

Diagnosis of cancer as an emergency: a critical review of current evidence.

Yin Zhou, Gary A Abel, Willie Hamilton, Kathy Pritchard-Jones, Cary P Gross, Fiona M Walter, Cristina Renzi, Sam Johnson, Sean McPhail, Lucy Elliss-Brookes and 1 more

Abstract readReview
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Nature reviews. Clinical oncology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 103 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
103citing papers in PubMed, 4 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

103 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. Pooled it
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  14. 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
    Article
  15. Article
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  20. Patients' perceptions on reasons for self-referring to the emergency department shortly before a cancer diagnosis: a qualitative study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2025
    Article

43 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

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

11 authors.

Yin ZhouThe Primary Care Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Institute of Public Health, Forvie Site, Robinson Way, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 0SR, UK.
Gary A AbelThe Primary Care Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Institute of Public Health, Forvie Site, Robinson Way, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 0SR, UK.
Willie HamiltonUniversity of Exeter, College House, St Luke's Campus, Exeter EX2 4TE, UK.
Kathy Pritchard-JonesInstitute of Child Health, University College London, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, UK.
Cary P GrossSection of General Medicine, Cancer Outcomes Public Policy and Effectiveness Research (COPPER) Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06519, USA.
Fiona M WalterThe Primary Care Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Institute of Public Health, Forvie Site, Robinson Way, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 0SR, UK.
Cristina RenziHealth Behaviour Research Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London WC1E 7HB, UK.
Sam JohnsonNational Cancer Registration and Analysis Service, Public Health England Zone A, 2nd Floor, Skipton House, 80 London Road, London SE1 6LH, UK.
Sean McPhailNational Cancer Registration and Analysis Service, Public Health England Zone A, 2nd Floor, Skipton House, 80 London Road, London SE1 6LH, UK.
Lucy Elliss-BrookesNational Cancer Registration and Analysis Service, Public Health England Zone A, 2nd Floor, Skipton House, 80 London Road, London SE1 6LH, UK.
Georgios LyratzopoulosThe Primary Care Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Institute of Public Health, Forvie Site, Robinson Way, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 0SR, UK.

Funding

Cancer Research UK 18180Cancer Research UK 18667Medical Research Council MR/K006584/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Many patients with cancer are diagnosed through an emergency presentation, which is associated with inferior clinical and patient-reported outcomes compared with those of patients who are diagnosed electively or through screening. Reducing the proportion of patients with cancer who are diagnosed as emergencies is, therefore, desirable; however, the optimal means of achieving this aim are uncertain owing to the involvement of different tumour, patient and health-care factors, often in combination. Most relevant evidence relates to patients with colorectal or lung cancer in a few economically developed countries, and defines emergency presentations contextually (that is, whether patients presented to emergency health-care services and/or received emergency treatment shortly before their diagnosis) as opposed to clinically (whether patients presented with life-threatening manifestations of their cancer). Consistent inequalities in the risk of emergency presentations by patient characteristics and cancer type have been described, but limited evidence is available on whether, and how, such presentations can be prevented. Evidence on patients' symptoms and health-care use before presentation as an emergency is sparse. In this Review, we describe the extent, causes and implications of a diagnosis of cancer following an emergency presentation, and provide recommendations for public health and health-care interventions, and research efforts aimed at addressing this under-researched aspect of cancer diagnosis.

Indexed as

AdolescentAdultAge FactorsChildChild, PreschoolEarly Detection of CancerEmergenciesEmergency TreatmentGeneral PracticeHumansInfantInfant, NewbornKarnofsky Performance StatusNeoplasm GradingNeoplasmsNeoplasm Staging

Identifiers

PMID27725680

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.