Table 1.

Example of search strategy (MEDLINE)

Concept 1	Concept 2	Concept 3	Concept 4
Neoplasms (SH) neoplasm* (free text) cancer* (free text) tumor* (free text)	African Continental Ancestry Group (SH) West Indian* (free text) ‘Afro Caribbean*’ (free text) ‘Afro American*’ African American* (free text) African Caribbean* (free text) Black* not (Blackwell) (free text), minority group* (free text) ethnic minorit* (free text) ‘Black Minority Ethnic’ (free text) ‘BME’ (free text)	Perception (SH) Social Perception (SH) perception* (free text) social perception* (free text) opinion* (free text) Attitude to Health (SH) attitude* (free text) social value* (free text) social norm* (free text) Culture (SH) belief* (free text) understanding* (free text) language* (free text) communicat* (free text) fear* (free text) mistrust (free text) trust (free text) cultur* (free text) relig* (free text) knowledge* (free text) barrier* (free text) embarrass* (free text) fatalism (free text) fatalistic (free text) income (free text) socioeconomic* (free text) depriv* (free text) educat* (free text) poor* (free text) poverty (free text)	Early Diagnosis (SH) Early Detection of Cancer (SH) ‘Late presentation’ (free text) ‘Early presentation’ (free text) ‘Early diagnos*’ (free text) ‘Late diagnos*’ (free text) ‘early detection cancer’ delay* (free text)