ArticleBMJ open2018
Qualitative cross-country comparison of whether, when and how people diagnosed with lung cancer talk about cigarette smoking in narrative interviews.
Article in BMJ open, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Tobacco Use, Stigma, and Coping in Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review of Their Psychosocial Interactions and Clinical Implications.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2026Pooled it
- Decision-making processes, gendered dimensions and the culture of hope among lung cancer patients in Sylhet, Bangladesh.BMJ global health · 2025Article
- What are the similarities and differences in lung cancer symptom appraisal and help-seeking according to smoking status? A qualitative study with lung cancer patients.Psycho-oncology · 2022Article
- Sensations, symptoms, and then what? Early bodily experiences prior to diagnosis of lung cancer.PloS one · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesTo compare and examine whether, when and how patients with lung cancer in three countries, with different survival rates, talk about cigarette smoking and its relationship with help-seeking.
designA qualitative cross-country comparison with analysis of narrative interviews.
settingParticipants in Sweden, Denmark and England were interviewed during 2015-2016. Interviews, using a narrative approach, were conducted in participants' home by trained and experienced qualitative researchers.
participantsSeventy-two men and women diagnosed with lung cancer were interviewed within 6 months of their diagnosis.
resultsThe English participants, regardless of their own smoking status, typically raised the topic of smoking early in their interviews. Smoking was mentioned in relation to symptom appraisal and interactions with others, including health professionals. Participants in all three countries interpreted their symptoms in relation to their smoking status, but in Sweden (unlike England) there was no suggestion that this deterred them from seeking care. English participants, but not Swedish or Danish, recounted reluctance to consult healthcare professionals with their symptoms while they were still smoking, some gave up shortly before consulting. Some English patients described defensive strategies to challenge stigma or pre-empt other people's assumptions about their culpability for the disease. A quarter of the Danish and 40% of the Swedish participants did not raise the topic of smoking at any point in their interview.
conclusionThe causal relationship between smoking and lung cancer is well known in all three countries, yet this comparative analysis suggests that the links between a sense of responsibility, stigma and reluctance to consult are not inevitable. These findings help illuminate why English patients with lung cancer tend to be diagnosed at a later stage than their Swedish counterparts.
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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.