Table 1.

Chronic throat symptoms encountered in primary care and specialist outpatient centres

Symptoms	Clinical red flags	Patient red flags
Cough Dysphonia Globus sensation Oropharyngeal dysphagia Repetitive throat clearing Catarrh/sensation of mucus in the throat Abnormal throat sensations	Progressive symptoms Regurgitation of undigested foods Odynophagia Haemoptysis New dysphagia Airway limitation symptoms Weight loss Constitutional symptoms Bone pain or generalised aches Palpable or radiological thyroid mass or nodule Palpable or radiological lymphadenopathy	Smoker or ex-smoker Immunosuppression Prior head and neck cancer Prior head and neck radiation History of skin cancer Prior haematological malignancy History of respiratory cancer History of oesophageal cancer History of Barrett’s oesophagus