Table 3.
Search terms used during Web searches prior to diagnosis (n=23).
| Category and terms | Participants, n | |
| Symptoms | ||
| Persistent cough | 4 | |
| Hoarse voice, hoarseness, croaky voice | 3 | |
| Back pain, shoulder pain, lower back pain | 2 | |
| Coughing up blood | 1 | |
| Lump on neck | 1 | |
| Dyspnea | 1 | |
| Swollen face and neck | 1 | |
| Recurrent chest infection | 1 | |
| Pain in chest | 1 | |
| Weight loss | 1 | |
| Night sweats | 1 | |
| Dry mouth | 1 | |
| Conditions / possible causes | ||
| Lung cancer, lung cancer symptoms | 5 | |
| Cancer | 1 | |
| Throat cancer | 1 | |
| Stomach cancer | 1 | |
| Myasthenia | 1 | |
| Stopping smoking | 1 | |
| Anxiety | 1 | |
| Test results (communicated to the patient before the final diagnosis was given) | ||
| Pleural effusion, fluid in lungs | 1 | |
| Patch on vocal cords | 1 | |
| Iron anemia | 1 | |
| Collapsed lung | 1 | |