GPs’ suspicion of cancer when a patient presents with warning signs of cancer, by cancer diagnosis and non-diagnosis (n = 6321)
| Symptom | All warning signs of cancer | Cancer possible, needs follow-up | Cancer not likely | Missing registration of suspicion | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n, all | n, cancera | PPV | %, all cancers | n, all (%) | n, cancera (%) | n, all (%) | n, cancera (%) | n, all (%) | n, cancera (%) | |
| Focal symptom | ||||||||||
| Non-healing skin lesion | 309 | 5 | 1.6 | 4.7 | 105 (34.0) | 3 (60.0) | 149 (48.2) | 1 (20.0) | 55 (17.8) | 1 (20.0) |
| Lump/nodule | 918 | 12 | 1.3 | 11.3 | 202 (22.0) | 4 (33.3) | 611 (66.6) | 4 (33.3) | 105 (11.4) | 4 (33.3) |
| Unusual bleeding | 509 | 17 | 3.3 | 16.0 | 197 (38.7) | 12 (70.6) | 255 (50.1) | 3 (17.6) | 57 (11.2) | 2 (11.8) |
| Pigmented skin lesion (mole) | 518 | 4 | 0.8 | 3.8 | 101 (19.5) | 3 (75.0) | 356 (68.7) | 1 (25.0) | 61 (11.8) | 0 (0.0) |
| Persistent digestive problem | 1042 | 28 | 2.7 | 26.4 | 321 (30.8) | 19 (67.9) | 586 (56.2) | 4 (14.3) | 135 (13.0) | 5 (17.9) |
| Cough/hoarseness of uncertain origin | 774 | 15 | 1.9 | 14.2 | 158 (20.4) | 7 (46.7) | 497 (64.2) | 5 (33.3) | 119 (15.4) | 3 (20.0) |
| Other symptom suspicious of cancer | 879 | 22 | 2.5 | 20.84 | 343 (39.0) | 15 (68.2) | 321 (36.5) | 1 (4.5) | 215 (24.5) | 6 (27.3) |
| One or more of the focal symptoms | 4726 | 92 | 1.9 | 86.8 | 1307 (27.7) | 55 (59.8) | 2704 (57.2) | 17 (18.5) | 715 (15.1) | 20 (21.7) |
| General symptom | ||||||||||
| Unintentional weight loss | 339 | 13 | 3.8 | 12.3 | 162 (47.8) | 9 (69.2) | 114 (33.6) | 2 (15.4) | 63 (18.6) | 2 (15.4) |
| Unusual fatigue | 1152 | 21 | 1.8 | 19.8 | 254 (22.0) | 13 (61.9) | 715 (62.1) | 3 (14.3) | 183 (15.9) | 5 (23.84) |
| Unusual pain | 1264 | 16 | 1.3 | 15.1 | 271 (21.4) | 6 (37.5) | 835 (66.1) | 6 (37.5) | 158 (12.5) | 4 (25.0) |
| One or more of the general symptoms | 2497 | 40 | 1.6 | 37.7 | 585 (23.4) | 22 (55.0) | 1561 (62.5) | 10 (25.0) | 351 (14.1) | 8 (20.0) |
| All symptoms | ||||||||||
| One or more of all warning signs | 6321 | 106 | 1.7 | 100 | 1515 (24.0) | 58 (54.7) | 3854 (61.0) | 24 (22.6) | 952 (15.1) | 24 (22.6) |
| Multiple symptoms | ||||||||||
| 2 symptoms | 955 | 21 | 2.2 | 19.8 | 359 (37.6) | 13 (61.9) | 477 (49.9) | 6 (28.6) | 119 (12.5) | 2 (9.5) |
| ≥3 symptoms | 193 | 12 | 6.3 | 11.3 | 109 (56.8) | 10 (83.3) | 51 (26.6) | 0 (0.0) | 33 (17.1) | 2 (16.7) |
↵a Number of patients with subsequent cancer. PPV = positive predictive value of symptom in relation to cancer.