In Table 1, the (N) value in the “*Cough or hoarseness” column in the last row is incorrectly recorded as 1469. The (N) value should be 149. Please see the corrected Table 1 here.
Table 1. Experience of cancer ‘alarm’ symptoms, symptom attributions, perceived symptom seriousness and GP consultation.
| *Cough or hoarseness | Change in bowel habits | Unexplained pain | Change in bladder habits | Unexplained lump | Change in the appearance of a mole | Sore that does not heal | Unexplained bleeding | Unexplained weight loss | Difficulty swallowing | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % (n) reporting symptom | 20.3 (349) | 18.1 (310) | 15.3 (260) | 14.5 (248) | 7.5 (129) | 7.2 (122) | 5.4 (92) | 4.5 (77) | 4.3 (73) | 4.2 (71) |
| Attribution % (n) | (n = 296) | (n = 216) | (n = 184) | (n = 166) | (n = 87) | (n = 71) | (n = 67) | (n = 56) | (n = 47) | (n = 47) |
| Physical (non-cancer) | 64.5 (169) | 38.0 (82) | 48.9 (90) | 40.4 (67) | 46.0 (40) | 12.7 (9) | 52.2 (35) | 58.9 (33) | 21.3 (10) | 42.6 (20) |
| Psychological | 3.8 (10) | 5.1 (11) | 5.4 (10) | 2.4 (4) | 2.3 (2) | 1.4 (1) | 0.0 (0) | 5.4 (3) | 17.0 (8) | 8.5 (4) |
| External/normalising | 30.9 (81) | 40.7 (88) | 23.4 (43) | 40.4 (67) | 10.3 (9) | 38.0 (27) | 19.4 (13) | 14.3 (8) | 38.3 (18) | 10.6 (5) |
| Cancer | 0.8 (2) | 2.3 (5) | 0.0 (0) | 0.0 (0) | 6.9 (6) | 5.6 (4) | 4.5 (3) | 1.8 (1) | 0.0 (0) | 4.3 (2) |
| Don’t know | 11.5 (34) | 13.9 (30) | 22.3 (41) | 16.9 (28) | 34.5 (30) | 42.3 (30) | 23.9 (16) | 19.6 (11) | 23.4 (11) | 34.0 (16) |
| Concerned it might be serious % (n) | (n = 337) | (n = 292) | (n = 247) | (n = 237) | (n = 126) | (n = 112) | (n = 86) | (n = 72) | (n = 64) | (n = 65) |
| Yes | 20.2 (68) | 17.8 (52) | 40.5 (100) | 19.8 (47) | 23.0 (29) | 11.6 (13) | 22.1 (19) | 26.4 (19) | 20.3 (13) | 23.1 (15) |
| No | 79.8 (269) | 82.2 (240) | 59.5 (147) | 80.2 (190) | 77.0 (97) | 88.4 (99) | 77.9 (67) | 73.6 (53) | 79.7 (51) | 76.9 (50) |
| Contacted GP about the symptom % (n) | (N = 336) | (n = 270) | (N = 246) | (N = 224) | (N = 123) | (N = 109) | (N = 80) | (N = 68) | (N = 66) | (N = 62) |
| Yes | 55.7 (187) | 57.0 (154) | 72.0 (177) | 57.6 (129) | 66.7 (82) | 46.8 (51) | 58.8 (47) | 54.4 (37) | 56.1 (37) | 54.8 (34) |
| No | 44.3 (149) | 43.0 (116) | 28.0 (69) | 42.4 (95) | 33.3 (41) | 53.2 (58) | 41.3 (33) | 45.6 (31) | 43.9 (29) | 45.2 (28) |
Note: Totals may vary due to missing data. Missing data for open attribution item ranges from 15% (n = 53) for persistent cough to 42% (n = 51) for change in a mole. Missing data for concern ranges from 1% (n = 9) for unexplained weight loss to 8% (n = 10) for change in a mole and for help-seeking ranges from, 4% 13/349) for cough or hoarseness to 13% (12/92) for sore that does not heal. Concerned it might be serious was categorised as follows: ‘No’ refers to responses “no”, “a little” or “moderately” whilst ‘Yes’ refers to “quite a bit” and “extremely”.
*Persistent was removed from the symptom descriptions for brevity.
Reference
- 1. Whitaker KL, Scott SE, Winstanley K, Macleod U, Wardle J (2014) Attributions of Cancer ‘Alarm’ Symptoms in a Community Sample. PLoS ONE 9(12): e114028 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0114028 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]