Table 2.
Logistic regression model showing the association between warning signs of cancer and GPs’ suspicion of cancer by single symptoms and the most common symptom combinations, each adjusted for age and sex
| n | OR for suspicion | 95% CI | P-value |
Sensitivity analysis
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missing = possible | Missing = not likely | |||||
| Age (increasing) | 1.0 | 1.03 to 1.04 | <0.001 | |||
|
| ||||||
| Sex (females =1, males = 2) | 1.3 | 1.1 to 1.5 | <0.001 | |||
|
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| Skin lesion | 247 | 1.6 | 1.2 to 2.2 | 0.003 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
|
| ||||||
| Lump | 783 | 1.0 | 0.8 to −1.2 | n.s. | 0.9 | 1.1 |
|
| ||||||
| Bleeding | 406 | 2.4 | 1.9 to 3.0 | <0.001 | 1.7 | 2.4 |
|
| ||||||
| Mole | 480 | 1.1 | 0.8 to 1.4 | n.s. | 1.0 | 1.1 |
|
| ||||||
| Digestive problem | 622 | 1.1 | 0.9 to 1.3 | n.s. | 1.0 | 1.1 |
|
| ||||||
| Cough | 612 | 0.5 | 0.4 to 0.7 | <0.001 | 0.7 | 0.5 |
|
| ||||||
| Weight loss | 90 | 1.7 | 1.0 to 2.7 | 0.040 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
|
| ||||||
| Fatigue | 662 | 0.4 | 0.3 to 0.5 | <0.001 | 0.7 | 0.4 |
|
| ||||||
| Pain | 712 | 0.4 | 0.3 to 0.5 | <0.001 | 0.5 | 0.4 |
|
| ||||||
| Two warning signs of cancer | ||||||
| Lump and fatigue | 24 | 0.8 | 0.3 to −2.4 | n.s. | 1.0 | 0.6 |
| Lump and pain | 36 | 0.6 | 0.3 to 1.3 | n.s. | 0.6 | 0.7 |
| Bleeding and digestive problem | 21 | 2.0 | 0.8 to 5.2 | n.s. | 1.6 | 2.3 |
| Bleeding and fatigue | 18 | 6.5 | 1.7 to 24.7 | 0.006 | 6.0 | 2.8 |
| Bleeding and pain | 19 | 1.9 | 07 to 5.2 | n.s. | 1.6 | 1.7 |
| Digestive problem and weight loss | 71 | 1.6 | 0.9 to 2.7 | n.s. | 1.3 | 1.7 |
| Digestive problem and fatigue | 57 | 0.8 | 0.4 to 1.4 | n.s. | 0.7 | 0.9 |
| Digestive problem and pain | 147 | 0.7 | 0.5 to 1.1 | n.s. | 0.7 | 0.8 |
| Cough and weight loss | 12 | 2.8 | 0.6 to 13.4 | n.s. | 2.6 | 2.0 |
| Cough and fatigue | 67 | 0.8 | 0.4 to 1.3 | n.s. | 0.8 | 0.9 |
| Cough and pain | 18 | 1.8 | 0.9 to 5.0 | n.s. | 1.5 | 2.1 |
| Weight loss and fatigue | 34 | 1.2 | 0.5 to 2.7 | n.s. | 1.5 | 0.8 |
| Fatigue and pain | 68 | 0.4 | 0.2 to 0.7 | 0.003 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
|
| ||||||
| Three warning signs of cancer | ||||||
| Digestive problem, weight loss, and fatigue | 29 | 2.8 | 0.8 to 10.0 | n.s. | 3.2 | 1.0 |
| Digestive problem, fatigue, and pain | 22 | 0.3 | 0.1 to 0.8 | 0.016 | 0.6 | 0.4 |
6321 patients with warning signs of cancer (one recorded symptom, n = 5173; two symptoms, n = 955; three symptoms, n = 161; ≥4 symptoms, n = 32). OR = odds ratio. n.s. = non-significant.