ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2021
Clinical prediction tools to identify patients at highest risk of myeloma in primary care: a retrospective open cohort study.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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13 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact of cancer outcome data source on the diagnostic accuracy of ovarian cancer prediction models: a primary care cohort study.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Cataloguing and evaluating Irish health data resources for primary care cancer research.BJC reports · 2025Review
- Dysregulated immune proteins in plasma in the UK Biobank predict multiple myeloma 12 years before clinical diagnosis.Blood advances · 2025Article
- 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
- Disparities in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma: recommendations from an interprofessional consensus panel.Blood cancer journal · 2024Review
- Trends in primary care blood tests prior to lung and colorectal cancer diagnosis-A retrospective cohort study using linked Australian data.Cancer medicine · 2024Article
- Determining diagnostic delays in Romanian multiple myeloma patients using the Aarhus statement.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
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- Validation of a Diagnostic Model to Differentiate Multiple Myeloma from Bone Metastasis.Clinical epidemiology · 2023Article
- Clinical features and diagnosis of multiple myeloma: a population-based cohort study in primary care.BMJ open · 2021Article
- Approaches to diagnosing cancer earlier in general practice.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPatients with myeloma experience substantial delays in their diagnosis, which can adversely affect their prognosis.
aimTo generate a clinical prediction rule to identify primary care patients who are at highest risk of myeloma. DESIGN AND
settingRetrospective open cohort study using electronic health records data from the UK's Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) between 1 January 2000 and 1 January 2014.
methodPatients from the CPRD were included in the study if they were aged ≥40 years, had two full blood counts within a year, and had no previous diagnosis of myeloma. Cases of myeloma were identified in the following 2 years. Derivation and external validation datasets were created based on geographical region. Prediction equations were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models including patient characteristics, symptoms, and blood test results. Calibration, discrimination, and clinical utility were evaluated in the validation set.
resultsOf 1 281 926 eligible patients, 737 (0.06%) were diagnosed with myeloma within 2 years. Independent predictors of myeloma included: older age; male sex; back, chest and rib pain; nosebleeds; low haemoglobin, platelets, and white cell count; and raised mean corpuscular volume, calcium, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate. A model including symptoms and full blood count had an area under the curve of 0.84 (95% CI = 0.81 to 0.87) and sensitivity of 62% (95% CI = 55% to 68%) at the highest risk decile. The corresponding statistics for a second model, which also included calcium and inflammatory markers, were an area under the curve of 0.87 (95% CI = 0.84 to 0.90) and sensitivity of 72% (95% CI = 66% to 78%).
conclusionThe implementation of these prediction rules would highlight the possibility of myeloma in patients where GPs do not suspect myeloma. Future research should focus on the prospective evaluation of further external validity and the impact on clinical practice.
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