Table 3. Numbers of incident cases and PPVs (95% CIs) for the composite outcome of either cancer or IBD in the year following each studied abdominal symptom.

	Men			Women
	Number diagnosed with either cancer or IBD	PPV (%)	(95% CI)	Number diagnosed with either cancer or IBD	PPV (%)	(95% CI)
Abdominal bloating/distension	739	2.71	(2.52, 2.90)	1,707	2.32	(2.21, 2.43)
Combined with the following:
Abdominal pain	180	4.13	(3.54, 4.72)	401	3.26	(2.95, 3.58)
Change in bowel habit	17	3.75	(2.00, 5.50)	37	3.83	(2.62, 5.05)
Dyspepsia	453	2.42	(2.20, 2.64)	1,028	1.98	(1.86, 2.10)
Dysphagia	<14	<6.09		14	2.65	(1.28, 4.01)
Rectal bleeding	35	5.31	(3.60, 7.02)	54	4.21	(3.11, 5.31)
Abdominal pain	9,607	2.92	(2.86, 2.98)	13,198	2.35	(2.31, 2.39)
Combined with the following:
Abdominal bloating/distension	115	4.05	(3.33, 4.78)	247	3.19	(2.80, 3.59)
Change in bowel habit	212	7.57	(6.59, 8.55)	241	5.24	(4.60, 5.89)
Dyspepsia	542	3.25	(2.98, 3.52)	780	2.82	(2.63, 3.02)
Dysphagia	78	4.73	(3.71, 5.75)	120	4.13	(3.41, 4.86)
Rectal bleeding	390	6.70	(6.06, 7.34)	381	4.92	(4.44, 5.40)
Change in bowel habit	3,353	7.41	(7.17, 7.65)	3,015	4.90	(4.73, 5.08)
Combined with the following:
Abdominal bloating/distension	27	5.56	(3.52, 7.59)	53	4.31	(3.18, 5.45)
Abdominal pain	321	7.27	(6.50, 8.03)	379	4.58	(4.13, 5.03)
Dyspepsia	118	5.27	(4.35, 6.20)	179	4.67	(4.01, 5.34)
Dysphagia	23	7.32	(4.44, 10.21)	22	4.59	(2.72, 6.47)
Rectal bleeding	212	14.81	(12.97, 16.66)	188	10.02	(8.66, 11.38)
Dyspepsia	4,983	2.29	(2.23, 2.36)	6,063	2.02	(1.97, 2.07)
Combined with the following:
Abdominal bloating/distension	393	2.50	(2.26, 2.75)	905	2.01	(1.88, 2.14)
Abdominal pain	632	2.90	(2.68, 3.13)	927	2.45	(2.29, 2.61)
Change in bowel habit	63	3.90	(2.95, 4.84)	85	3.34	(2.64, 4.04)
Dysphagia	142	3.10	(2.60, 3.60)	136	2.85	(2.38, 3.32)
Rectal bleeding	141	3.65	(3.06, 4.25)	160	3.84	(3.26, 4.43)
Dysphagia	1,874	5.01	(4.79, 5.23)	1,474	3.02	(2.87, 3.18)
Combined with the following:
Abdominal bloating/distension	<10	<4.50		<15	<2.38
Abdominal pain	150	6.22	(5.26, 7.19)	171	3.38	(2.89, 3.88)
Change in bowel habit	<20	<7.14		16	3.69	(1.91, 5.46)
Dyspepsia	167	6.37	(5.44, 7.31)	132	3.19	(2.66, 3.73)
Rectal bleeding	36	5.85	(4.00, 7.71)	26	3.61	(2.25, 4.97)
Rectal bleeding	6,768	5.80	(5.66, 5.93)	6,128	5.18	(5.05, 5.30)
Combined with the following:
Abdominal bloating/distension	39	6.44	(4.48, 8.39)	69	4.85	(3.73, 5.96)
Abdominal pain	414	5.41	(4.90, 5.92)	614	4.77	(4.40, 5.13)
Change in bowel habit	176	13.31	(11.48, 15.14)	204	11.76	(10.25, 13.28)
Dyspepsia	218	4.74	(4.12, 5.35)	251	4.42	(3.88, 4.95)
Dysphagia	25	4.20	(2.59, 5.81)	46	6.01	(4.32, 7.69)

Total counts of cancer or IBD, where counts of cancer <5 or of IBD <5 in Table 2, are not presented here (in Table 3) in compliance with reporting standards for minimising disclosivity risk.

CI, confidence interval; IBD, inflammatory bowel disease; PPV, positive predictive value.