ArticleHeliyon2017
Abdominal symptoms in general practice: Frequency, cancer suspicions raised, and actions taken by GPs in six European countries. Cohort study with prospective registration of cancer.
Article in Heliyon, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gut feeling for the diagnosis of cancer in general practice: a diagnostic accuracy review.BMJ open · 2023Pooled 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
- Barriers and facilitators to faecal immunochemical testing in symptomatic populations: A rapid systematic scoping review and gap analysis.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2025Article
- Article
- Signs and symptoms of serious illness in adults with acute abdominal pain presenting to ambulatory care: a systematic review.BJGP open · 2024Article
- Neoplasia detection in FIT positive screening colonoscopies compared with an age-controlled symptomatic cohort: a retrospective review.Frontiers in gastroenterology (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Diagnostic value of fecal calprotectin in primary care patients with gastrointestinal symptoms: A retrospective Swedish cohort study.JGH open : an open access journal of gastroenterology and hepatology · 2023Article
- Evaluating the Utility of a Large Language Model in Answering Common Patients' Gastrointestinal Health-Related Questions: Are We There Yet?Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Symptoms and signs of urogenital cancer in primary care.BMC primary care · 2023Article
- Self-Medication with Drotaverine among Patients with Common Abdominal Symptoms and Treatment Efficacy from the Perspectives of Patients and General Practitioners-An Observational, Retrospective, Cross-Sectional Study Using Real-World Data.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Abdominal cancer symptoms: Evaluation of the impact of a regional public awareness campaign.European journal of cancer care · 2021Article
- Prevalence of self-reported abdominal symptoms among 50-74-years-old men and women eligible for colorectal cancer screening -a cross-sectional study.BMC cancer · 2021Article
- Symptoms and signs of colorectal cancer, with differences between proximal and distal colon cancer: a prospective cohort study of diagnostic accuracy in primary care.BMC family practice · 2021Article
- Alignment between the patient's cancer worry and the GP's cancer suspicion and the association with the interval between first symptom presentation and referral: a cross-sectional study in Denmark.BMC family practice · 2021Article
- Challenges in early diagnosis of cancer: the fast track.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2020Article
- Observational
- 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
- Possible missed opportunities for diagnosing colorectal cancer in Dutch primary care: a multimethods approach.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
13 authors at 8 institutions in 6 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAbdominal symptoms are diagnostically challenging to general practitioners (GPs): although common, they may indicate cancer. In a prospective cohort of patients, we examined abdominal symptom frequency, initial diagnostic suspicion, and actions of GPs in response to abdominal symptoms.
methodsOver a 10-day period, 493 GPs in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Scotland, recorded consecutive consultations: sex, date of birth and any specified abdominal symptoms. For patients with abdominal symptoms, additional data on non-specific symptoms, GPs' diagnostic suspicion, and features of the consultation were noted. Data on all cancer diagnoses among all included patients were requested from the GPs eight months later.
findingsConsultations with 61802 patients were recorded. Abdominal symptoms were recorded in 6264 (10.1%) patients. A subsequent malignancy was reported in 511 patients (0.8%): 441 (86.3%) had a new cancer, 70 (13.7%) a recurrent cancer. Abdominal symptoms were noted in 129 (25.2%) of cancer patients (
interpretationAbdominal symptoms pointed to abdominal cancers rather than to other cancers. However, the finding of abdominal symptoms in only one third of patients with an abdominal cancer, and the lack of cancer suspicion in a quarter of symptomatic cancer patients, provide challenges for GPs' diagnostic thinking and referral practices.
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