SynthesisThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2019
Diagnosis and referral delays in primary care for oral squamous cell cancer: a systematic review.
Synthesis in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 61 papers, 4 of them syntheses 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
61 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Primary Care Referral Delays in Oral Cancer Diagnosis: A Meta-Analysis.Oral diseases · 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
- Current Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice among Health Care Providers in OSCC Awareness: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Health System Factors in Head and Neck Cancer Diagnosis: A HEADSpAcE Consortium Qualitative Study in Glasgow and Montevideo.Head & neck · 2026Article
- Patient delay in oral cancer in North-Western Spain: Where do we stand?Medicina oral, patologia oral y cirugia bucal · 2026Observational
- Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) Regarding Sexually Transmitted Infections, Human Papillomavirus, and HPV-Related Oropharyngeal Cancer Among Italian Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study.Dentistry journal · 2026Article
- Article
- Referral patterns to a Middle Eastern oral medicine service: a retrospective analysis.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Article
- Establishing molecular biomarkers for efficient demarcation of tumor and non-tumor tissue in oral squamous cell carcinoma.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Genetic and Epigenetic Biomarkers for the Early Oral Cancerization Risk in Periodontitis Patients.Current issues in molecular biology · 2025Review
- Convolutional neural networks for accurate real-time diagnosis of oral epithelial dysplasia and oral squamous cell carcinoma using high-resolution in vivo confocal microscopy.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Oral squamous cell carcinoma vs. medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw in patients assuming bone-modifying agents: a diagnostic challenge in a multi-hospital case series.Frontiers in oral health · 2025Article
- Recent advance in early oral lesion diagnosis: the application of artificial intelligence-assisted endoscopy.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Review
- Review
- Factors influencing engagement in oral cancer prevention activities among dental students and professionals in Saudi Arabia.BMC oral health · 2024Article
- Determinants of Diagnostic Delays in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Insights from Demographic and Socio-Economic Factors.Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP · 2024Article
- Knowledge, attitude and perception of Italian dental students toward HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer and vaccination: a cross-sectional study.BMC oral health · 2024Article
- Evaluation of the levels of salivary paxillin in oral potentially malignant disorders and malignant lesions.BMC oral health · 2024Observational
1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe incidence of oral cancer is increasing. Guidance for oral cancer from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is unique in recommending cross-primary care referral from GPs to dentists.
aimThis review investigates knowledge about delays in the diagnosis of symptomatic oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) in primary care. DESIGN AND
settingAn independent multi-investigator literature search strategy and an analysis of study methodologies using a modified data extraction tool based on Aarhus checklist criteria relevant to primary care.
methodThe authors conducted a focused systematic review involving document retrieval from five databases up to March 2018. Included were studies looking at OSCC diagnosis from when patients first accessed primary care up to referral, including length of delay and stage of disease at time of definitive diagnosis.
resultsFrom 538 records, 16 articles were eligible for full-text review. In the UK, more than 55% of patients with OSCC were referred by their GP, and 44% by their dentist. Rates of prescribing between dentists and GPs were similar, and both had similar delays in referral, though one study found greater delays attributed to dentists as they had undertaken dental procedures. On average, patients had two to three consultations before referral. Less than 50% of studies described the primary care aspect of referral in detail. There was no information on inter-GP-dentist referrals.
conclusionThere is a need for primary care studies on OSCC diagnosis. There was no evidence that GPs performed less well than dentists, which calls into question the NICE cancer option to refer to dentists, particularly in the absence of robust auditable pathways.
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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.