Table 2. Prevalence of primary care use and relevant symptoms coded before diagnosis by diagnostic route.

	Route to diagnosis
	Emergency		GP		Consultant/other/unknown		Total
	n	(%)	n	(%)	n	(%)	N	%	P
Patients with consultations
In the 6 months before diagnosis	197	84.40	489	91.23	142	79.33	825	87.49	0.008
In the 12 months before diagnosis	203	89.04	508	94.78	156	87.15	867	91.94	<0.001
With any ‘relevant' symptom coded within 12 months before diagnosisa	165	81.28	481	94.69	121	77.56	768	88.58	<0.001
With specific symptoms coded within 12 months before diagnosis
Reported anaemia	93	40.79	269	50.19	50	27.93	412
Anaemia tested but values in normal range or not reported	32	14.04	114	21.27	44	24.58	190
Constipation	55	24.12	91	16.98	20	11.17	166
Abdominal pain, swelling, investigation	50	21.93	87	16.23	19	10.61	156
Rectal bleeding	6	2.63	96	17.91	12	6.70	114
Diarrhoea	14	6.14	48	8.96	10	5.59	72
Other bowel (e.g., rectal mass, flatulence, altered bowel)	5	2.19	58	10.82	4	2.23	67
Weight loss or fatigue	6	2.63	15	2.80	5	2.79	26
No symptom reported but record of colorectal diagnostic investigation referral	5	2.19	14	2.61	8	4.47	27
N	228		536		179		943

Abbreviation: GP=general practitioner.

^aThe percentage is calculated using all those that had a consultation for any reason before diagnosis as the denominator population.