Table 4.
Symptoms experienced by patients and presenting symptoms noted by PCP for eligible patients
| Symptoms (reported by patient) | Wales | England | Scotland | Northern Ireland | Denmark | Manitoba | Ontario | Sweden | Norway | Victoria | Overall | P value* |
| (N=211) | (N=252) | (N=198) | (N=200) | (N=285) | (N=202) | (N=288) | (N=211) | (N=88) | (N=208) | (N=2143) | ||
| Persistent cough | 113 (54) | 123 (49) | 97 (49) | 83 (42) | 97 (34) | 71 (35) | 125 (43) | 84 (40) | 10 (11) | 39 (19) | 842 (39) | <0.001 |
| Breathlessness | 109 (52) | 126 (50) | 82 (41) | 73 (37) | 99 (35) | 63 (31) | 119 (41) | 77 (36) | 12 (14) | 2 (12) | 784 (37) | <0.001 |
| Fatigue | 75 (36) | 79 (31) | 64 (32) | 61 (31) | 38 (13) | 55 (27) | 92 (32) | 60 (28) | 17 (19) | 42 (20) | 583 (27) | <0.001 |
| Weight loss | 38 (18) | 39 (15) | 44 (22) | 37 (19) | 41 (14) | 29 (14) | 36 (13) | 34 (16) | 9 (10) | 20 (10) | 327 (15) | 0.147 |
| Felt sick/vomiting/nausea/loss of appetite | 42 (20) | 33 (13) | 31 (16) | 24 (12) | 33 (12) | 22 (11) | 45 (16) | 28 (13) | 3 (3) | 20 (10) | 281 (13) | 0.132 |
| Coughing up blood-stained phlegm (sputum) | 35 (17) | 32 (13) | 24 (12) | 31 (16) | 21 (7) | 16 (8) | 27 (9) | 25 (12) | 5 (6) | 23 (11) | 239 (11) | 0.014 |
| Chest or shoulder pain | 23 (11) | 9 (4) | 18 (9) | 24 (12) | 10 (4) | 28 (14) | 43 (15) | 25 (12) | 4 (5) | 22 (11) | 206 (10) | <0.001 |
| Other symptoms not listed above | 51 (24) | 80 (32) | 59 (30) | 54 (27) | 63 (22) | 40 (20) | 30 (10) | 75 (36) | 26 (30) | 42 (20) | 520 (24) | <0.001 |
| No symptoms | 29 (14) | 24 (10) | 32 (16) | 21 (11) | 63 (22) | 50 (25) | 67 (23) | 36 (17) | 33 (38) | 75 (36) | 430 (20) | <0.001 |
| Missing | 1 (0.5) | 16 (6) | 6 (3) | 17 (9) | 31 (11) | 9 (4) | 4 (1) | 4 (2) | 12 (14) | 1 (0.5) | 101 (5) | <0.001 |
| Presenting symptom (reported by PCP) | (N=85) | (N=133) | (N=115) | (N=0) | (N=151) | (N=86) | (N=61) | (N=0) | (N=17) | (N=81) | (N=729) | |
| Persistent cough | 33 (39) | 57 (43) | 45 (39) | n/a | 67 (44) | 24 (28) | 18 (30) | n/a | 7 (41) | 33 (41) | 284 (39) | 0.093 |
| Breathlessness | 17 (20) | 27 (20) | 20 (17) | n/a | 27 (18) | 11 (13) | 11 (18) | n/a | 4 (24) | 13 (16) | 130 (18) | 0.803 |
| Fatigue | 1 (1) | 5 (4) | 3 (3) | n/a | 9 (6) | 2 (2) | 2 (3) | n/a | 1 (6) | 3 (4) | 26 (4) | 0.539† |
| Weight loss | 5 (6) | 9 (7) | 15 (13) | n/a | 19 (13) | 3 (3) | 2 (3) | n/a | 0 (0) | 5 (6) | 58 (8) | 0.027 |
| Felt sick/vomiting/nausea/loss of appetite | 1 (1) | 1 (0.8) | 2 (2) | n/a | 6 (4) | 2 (2) | 0 (0) | n/a | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 12 (2) | 0.418† |
| Coughing up blood-stained phlegm (sputum) | 8 (9) | 10 (8) | 10 (9) | n/a | 7 (5) | 2 (2) | 3 (5) | n/a | 0 (0) | 7 (9) | 47 (6) | 0.305 |
| Chest or shoulder pain | 8 (9) | 10 (8) | 15 (13) | n/a | 15 (10) | 1 (1) | 7 (12) | n/a | 1 (6) | 4 (5) | 61 (8) | 0.08 |
| Other symptoms not listed above | 24 (28) | 44 (33) | 33 (29) | n/a | 64 (42) | 15 (17) | 7 (12) | n/a | 7 (41) | 20 (25) | 214 (29) | <0.001 |
| No symptoms | 5 (6) | 6 (5) | 6 (5) | n/a | 2 (1) | 31 (36) | 12 (20) | n/a | 0 (0) | 10 (12) | 72 (10) | <0.001 |
| Missing | 7 (8) | 7 (5) | 11 (10) | n/a | 16 (11) | 12 (14) | 6 (10) | n/a | 2 (12) | 10 (12) | 71 (10) | 0.392 |
| Cancer-specificity of symptom presented | ||||||||||||
| Cancer-specific symptom | 62 (73) | 97 (73) | 79 (69) | n/a | 94 (62) | 36 (42) | 38 (62) | n/a | 10 (59) | 48 (59) | 464 (64) | <0.001 |
| Non-specific symptom | 11 (13) | 23 (17) | 19 (17) | n/a | 39 (26) | 7 (8) | 5 (8) | n/a | 5 (29) | 13 (16) | 122 (17) | |
| No symptoms/missing | 12 (14) | 13 (10) | 17 (15) | n/a | 18 (12) | 43 (50) | 18 (30) | n/a | 2 12) | 20 (25) | 143 (19) |
All figures are n (%).
*Differences between jurisdictions (excluding Victoria and Norway) were tested by the Pearson’s χ2 test, if nothing else stated.
†Differences between jurisdictions (excluding Victoria and Norway) were tested by the Fisher’s exact test.
PCP, primary care physician.