ArticleBritish journal of cancer2020
The association between unexpected weight loss and cancer diagnosis in primary care: a matched cohort analysis of 65,000 presentations.
Article in British journal of cancer, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05876676 (Rapid Diagnostic Centre Biomarker Study), which is not on this map. Cited by 38 papers, 4 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.
Rapid Diagnostic Centre Biomarker Study
Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Conceptualisation and Measurement of Resilience of Adults With Cancer: An Umbrella Review.Journal of advanced nursing · 2025Pooled it
- Diagnostic Risk Prediction Models for Upper Gastrointestinal Cancers: A Systematic Review.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2025Pooled it
- A systematic review of the impact of postoperative aerobic exercise training in patients undergoing surgery for intra-abdominal cancers.Techniques in coloproctology · 2023Pooled it
- Body Composition and Prostate Cancer Risk: A Systematic Review of Observational Studies.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2022Pooled it
- Blood test trend versus single threshold abnormality to discriminate cancer from non-cancer in patients with unexpected weight loss: A retrospective cohort study.PLoS medicine · 2026Article
- Piloting a Clinical Decision Support System for Unintended Weight Loss in Primary Care: Mixed Methods Study on Early Cancer Detection.JMIR cancer · 2026Article
- Diagnostic Implications of Multi-Cancer Early Detection Testing in the Investigation of Cancer Symptoms: An Exploratory Retrospective Analysis of the SYMPLIFY Study.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2026Article
- Clinical Decision Support Tool for Early Pancreatic Cancer Detection in Primary Care: Simulation Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Potential causes of malnutrition in older adults in primary healthcare-A cross-sectional study.The journal of nutrition, health & aging · 2026Observational
- Uncovering prognostic biomarkers through a pharmacovigilance study: the case of RDW.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- Polygenic score for body mass index in relation to mortality among patients with renal cell cancer.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2024Article
- A scoping review of unexpected weight loss and cancer: risk, guidelines, and recommendations for follow-up in primary care.BJGP open · 2024Article
- Prioritising primary care patients with unexpected weight loss for cancer investigation: diagnostic accuracy study (update).BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2024Article
- Reevaluating the fraction of cancer attributable to excess weight: overcoming the hidden impact of prediagnostic weight loss.European journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- Risk of cancer and serious disease in Danish patients with urgent referral for serious non-specific symptoms and signs of cancer in Funen 2014-2021.British journal of cancer · 2024Article
- The Association between Blood Test Trends and Undiagnosed Cancer: A Systematic Review and Critical Appraisal.Cancers · 2024Review
- The presenting symptom signatures of incident cancer: evidence from the English 2018 National Cancer Diagnosis Audit.British journal of cancer · 2024Article
- Cancer Diagnoses After Recent Weight Loss.JAMA · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWe aimed to understand the time period of cancer diagnosis and the cancer types detected in primary care patients with unexpected weight loss (UWL) to inform cancer guidelines.
methodsThis retrospective matched cohort study used cancer registry linked electronic health records from the UK's Clinical Practice Research Datalink from between 2000 and 2014. Univariable and multivariable time-to-event analyses examined the association between UWL, and all cancers combined, cancer site and stage.
resultsIn all, 63,973 patients had UWL recorded, of whom 1375 (2.2%) were diagnosed with cancer within 2 years (days-to-diagnosis: mean 181; median 80). Men with UWL (HR 3.28 (2.88-3.73)) and women (1.87 (1.68-2.08)) were more likely than comparators to be diagnosed with cancer within 3 months. The association was greatest in men aged ≥50 years and women ≥70 years. The commonest cancers were pancreas, cancer of unknown primary, gastro-oesophageal, lymphoma, hepatobiliary, lung, bowel and renal-tract. The majority were late-stage, but there was some evidence of association with stage II and stage III cancers. In the 3-24 months after presenting with UWL, cancer diagnosis was less likely than in comparators.
conclusionUWL recorded in primary care is associated with a broad range of cancer sites of early and late-stage.
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.