Cancer diagnosis in general practice V. Patients with and without cancer. who consults the physician for the 7 warning cancer signals?
Holtedahl, K.A.
Tidsskrift for den Norske Laegeforening Tidsskrift for Praktisk Medicin Ny Raekke 104(12): 804-806
1984
ISSN/ISBN: 0029-2001 PMID: 6740581 Document Number: 232143
Sixty-five cancer patients and 65 matched control patients were compared with respect to the occurrence of 7 warning signals. Information was through their records obtained from general practice and/or hospital. For cancer patients only symptoms occurring before diagnosis were recorded, and these symptoms were classified according to whether they had appeared early or late in the course of the disease. Sixty-six percent of cancer patients had early warning signals compared with 37% of control patients. This difference is statistically significant (P = 0.001). Of the 65 cancer patients, 16 belonged to a group of 11,606 patients recorded by general practitioners with a frequency of 5.4% warning signals. The 65 control patients were randomly selected among these 11,606 patients (i.e., consultations). Of the 16 cancer patients, 4 (25%) had been recorded presenting a warning signal. Six (9%) of the the control patients had had warning signals. This difference is not statistically significant (P = 0.086), but numbers are small.