ArticleBritish journal of cancer2019
Predictive value of inflammatory markers for cancer diagnosis in primary care: a prospective cohort study using electronic health records.
Article in British journal of cancer, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 59 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
59 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Prognostic value of Glasgow prognostic score in hematological malignancies: a systematic review and meta-analysis.International journal of hematology · 2025Pooled it
- Prognostic significance of systemic immune inflammation index in patients with urothelial carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in oncology · 2024Pooled it
- Revisiting ESR in PCOS: an easily obtainable link to immune and metabolic dysregulation.Journal of ovarian research · 2026Article
- Inflammatory proteins in pre-diagnosis versus at-diagnosis samples associated with differentiated thyroid cancer.International journal of cancer · 2026Observational
- Decision support tools for pancreatic cancer detection: external validation in Australian primary care - a retrospective cohort study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2026Article
- Article
- Associations Between Routine Blood-Derived Inflammatory Markers and 14-Day Readmission After Total Hip Arthroplasty: An Exploratory Study.Orthopaedic surgery · 2026Article
- Diagnostic testing patterns for lung cancer-related symptoms in primary care: a retrospective cohort study.BMJ open respiratory research · 2025Article
- Translocator protein (TSPO) positron emission tomography imaging and expression in patients with brain metastases.European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2025Article
- Anaemia of inflammation and cancer risk according to comorbidity in patients aged 40-89 years: a Danish cohort study.BMC cancer · 2025Observational
- Investigation of ESR Values in the Diagnosis of Malignancies: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2025Article
- Unveiling the immunological terrain of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: strategies to prompt immunotherapy from Mendelian randomization.Discover oncology · 2025Article
- Article
- A UK population-based case-control study of blood tests before cancer diagnosis in patients with non-specific abdominal symptoms.British journal of cancer · 2025Article
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- Article
- Review
- Prioritising primary care patients with unexpected weight loss for cancer investigation: diagnostic accuracy study (update).BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2024Article
- Double-layer optical fiber interferometer with bio-layer-modified reflector for label-free biosensing of inflammatory proteins.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Integration of QTL and comprehensive analysis in the circulating inflammatory cytokines for pan-cancer.BMC cancer · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEarly identification of cancer in primary care is important and challenging. This study examined the diagnostic utility of inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and plasma viscosity) for cancer diagnosis in primary care.
methodsCohort study of 160,000 patients with inflammatory marker testing in 2014, plus 40,000 untested matched controls, using Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), with Cancer Registry linkage. Primary outcome was one-year cancer incidence.
resultsPrimary care patients with a raised inflammatory marker have a one-year cancer incidence of 3.53% (95% CI 3.37-3.70), compared to 1.50% (1.43-1.58) in those with normal inflammatory markers, and 0.97% (0.87-1.07) in untested controls. Cancer risk is greater with higher inflammatory marker levels, with older age and in men; risk rises further when a repeat test is abnormal but falls if it normalises. Men over 50 and women over 60 with raised inflammatory markers have a cancer risk which exceeds the 3% NICE threshold for urgent investigation. Sensitivities for cancer were 46.1% for CRP, 43.6% ESR and 49.7% for PV.
conclusionCancer should be considered in patients with raised inflammatory markers. However, inflammatory markers have a poor sensitivity for cancer and are therefore not useful as 'rule-out' test.
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