ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2018
Diagnosing cancer in primary care: results from the National Cancer Diagnosis Audit.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 79 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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
79 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Patient and System Barriers to Early Diagnosis of Oral Cancer in the UK.Oral diseases · 2026Pooled it
- Cancer Risk Prediction Using Machine Learning for Supporting Early Cancer Diagnosis in Symptomatic Patients: A Systematic Review of Model Types.Cancer medicine · 2025Pooled it
- The duration of intervals on the oral cancer care pathway and implications for survival: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Physician associate/assistant contributions to cancer diagnosis in primary care: a rapid systematic review.BMC health services research · 2021Pooled it
- Health education interventions to promote early presentation and referral for women with symptoms of endometrial cancer.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Diagnosis and referral delays in primary care for oral squamous cell cancer: a systematic review.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2019Pooled it
- Quantifying intervals to diagnosis in myeloma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2018Pooled it
- Implementation of a Quality Improvement and Clinical Decision Support Tool for Cancer Diagnosis in Primary Care: Process Evaluation.JMIR cancer · 2025Trial
- Performance of a Cell-Free DNA-Based Multi-cancer Detection Test in Individuals Presenting With Symptoms Suspicious for Cancers.JCO precision oncology · 2023Trial
- Fusing data from CT deep learning, CT radiomics and peripheral blood immune profiles to diagnose lung cancer in a cohort of patients experiencing symptoms.EBioMedicine · 2026Article
- Characterisation of adult patients with neuroendocrine neoplasms and their journey to diagnosis.BJC reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Diagnostic Delay in Soft Tissue Sarcomas: A Review.Cancers · 2025Review
- Variation in the use of primary care-led investigations prior to a cancer diagnosis: analysis of the National Cancer Diagnosis Audit.BMJ quality & safety · 2025Article
- Interventions to improve timely cancer diagnosis: an integrative review.Diagnosis (Berlin, Germany) · 2025Review
- Impact of Multimorbidity on Symptom Burden and Symptom Clusters in Patients Receiving Chemotherapy.Cancer medicine · 2025Article
- Quality indicators and development targets in the national clinical quality registries in cancer care and screening.BMJ open quality · 2025Article
- The effect of comorbidities on diagnostic interval for lung cancer in England: a cohort study using electronic health record data.British journal of cancer · 2024Article
- Hidden systems in primary care cancer detection: an embedded qualitative intervention development study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2024Article
19 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundContinual improvements in diagnostic processes are needed to minimise the proportion of patients with cancer who experience diagnostic delays. Clinical audit is a means of achieving this.
aimTo characterise key aspects of the diagnostic process for cancer and to generate baseline measures for future re-audit. DESIGN AND
settingClinical audit of cancer diagnosis in general practices in England.
methodInformation on patient and tumour characteristics held in the English National Cancer Registry was supplemented by information from GPs in participating practices. Data items included diagnostic timepoints, patient characteristics, and clinical management.
resultsData were collected on 17 042 patients with a new diagnosis of cancer during 2014 from 439 practices. Participating practices were similar to non-participating ones, particularly regarding population age, urban/rural location, and practice-based patient experience measures. The median diagnostic interval for all patients was 40 days (interquartile range [IQR] 15-86 days). Most patients were referred promptly (median primary care interval 5 days [IQR 0-27 days]). Where GPs deemed diagnostic delays to have occurred (22% of cases), patient, clinician, or system factors were responsible in 26%, 28%, and 34% of instances, respectively. Safety netting was recorded for 44% of patients. At least one primary care-led investigation was carried out for 45% of patients. Most patients (76%) had at least one existing comorbid condition; 21% had three or more.
conclusionThe findings identify avenues for quality improvement activity and provide a baseline for future audit of the impact of 2015 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance on management and referral of suspected cancer.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.