Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33875418›Full record

Trial reportThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2021

Targeted encouragement of GP consultations for possible cancer symptoms: a randomised controlled trial.

Jean-Pierre Laake, Daniel Vulkan, Samantha L Quaife, William T Hamilton, Tanimola Martins, Jo Waller, Dharmishta Parmar, Peter Sasieni, Stephen W Duffy

Open access · hybridAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report 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 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.4field-weighted citation impact, top 35% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 9 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. How GPs Help Patients Reorient After Cancer News.Journal of cancer education : the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education · 2026
    Article
  3. Prediagnostic primary care consultations and imaging in emergency-diagnosed versus referred patients with lung cancer: a population-based linked data study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2026
    Article
  4. Transforming post pandemic cancer services.British journal of cancer · 2024
    Review
  5. Symptom appraisal and help seeking in males with symptoms of possible prostate cancer: a qualitative study with an ethnically diverse sample in London.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2023
    Article
  6. Approaches to diagnosing cancer earlier in general practice.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2021
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Jean-Pierre LaakeCentre for Cancer Prevention, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary University of London, London; medical student, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry.
Daniel VulkanCentre for Cancer Prevention, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary University of London, London.
Samantha L QuaifeCentre for Cancer Prevention, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary University of London, London; senior research fellow, Research Department of Behavioural Science and Health, Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, University College London, London.
William T HamiltonCollege of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, Exeter.ORCID 0000-0003-1611-1373
Tanimola MartinsCollege of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, Exeter.
Jo WallerResearch Department of Behavioural Science and Health, Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, University College London, London; reader in cancer behavioural science, School of Cancer & Pharmaceutical Sciences, King's College London, London.
Dharmishta ParmarCentre for Cancer Prevention, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary University of London, London.
Peter SasieniKing's College London, London.
Stephen W DuffyCentre for Cancer Prevention, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary University of London, London.
Queen Mary University of London · GBKing's College London · GBUniversity of Exeter · GB

Funding

Cancer Research UK 25356Cancer Research UK 26124
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundFor some common cancers, survival is lower in the UK than in comparable high-income countries.

aimTo assess the effectiveness of a targeted postal intervention (to promote awareness of cancer symptoms and earlier help seeking) on patient consultation rates. DESIGN AND

settingA two-arm randomised controlled trial was carried out on patients aged 50-84 years registered at 23 general practices in rural and urban areas of Greater London, Greater Manchester, and the North East of England.

methodPatients who had not had a consultation at their general practice in the previous 12 months and had at least two other risk factors for late presentation with cancer were randomised to intervention and control arms. The intervention consisted of a posted letter and leaflet. Primary outcome was the number of consultations at the practice with patients randomised to each arm in the 6 months subsequent to posting the intervention. All patients with outcome data were included in the intention-to-treat analyses.

resultsIn total, 1513 patients were individually randomised to the intervention (

conclusionTargeted interventions of this nature can change behaviour; there is a need to develop interventions that can be more effective at engaging patients with primary care. This study demonstrates that targeted interventions promoting both awareness of possible cancer symptoms and earlier health seeking, can change behaviour. There is a need to develop and test interventions that can be more effective at engaging the most at-risk patients.

Indexed as

General PracticeNeoplasmsCost-Benefit AnalysisEnglandHumansPrimary Health CareReferral and Consultationcancerdiagnosisgeneral practicehealth promotionprimary health carerandomized controlled trial

Identifiers

PMID33875418
PMCPMC8087296
OpenAlexW3111149850

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.