Table 5.
Main cancer diagnoses within 1 year of the index GP visit
| Features |
Main cancer types for patients who did not receive an urgent referral | Main cancer types for patients who did receive an urgent referral | |||||
| Cancer type | N | Percentage of patients diagnosed with cancer* | Cancer type | N | Percentage of patients diagnosed with cancer* | ||
| Anaemia | 1 | Colorectal cancer | 55 | 5.5% | Colorectal cancer | 44 | 16.9% |
| 2 | Oesophagogastric cancer | 12 | 1.2% | Oesophagogastric cancer | 5 | 1.9% | |
| 3 | Breast cancer | 7 | 0.7% | Prostate cancer | 3 | 1.1% | |
| Total number of diagnoses† | 98 | 9.7% | Total number of diagnoses† | 64 | 24.5% | ||
| Total number of patients diagnosed with cancer | 96 | 9.5% | Total number of patients diagnosed with cancer | 62 | 23.8% | ||
| Rectal bleeding |
1 | Colorectal cancer | 159 | 1.5% | Colorectal cancer | 148 | 6.4% |
| 2 | Prostate cancer | 41 | 0.4% | Breast cancer | 11 | 0.5% | |
| 3 | Breast cancer | 21 | 0.2% | Anal cancer | 10 | 0.4% | |
| Total number of diagnoses† | 316 | 2.9% | Total number of diagnoses† | 205 | 8.9% | ||
| Total number of patients diagnosed with cancer | 299 | 2.8% | Total number of patients diagnosed with cancer | 200 | 8.6% | ||
| Dysphagia | 1 | Oesophagogastric cancer | 108 | 1.6% | Oesophagogastric cancer | 53 | 3.8% |
| 2 | Breast cancer | 19 | 0.3% | Lip, oral cavity and pharynx cancer | 10 | 0.7% | |
| 3 | Lung cancer | 14 | 0.2% | Lung cancer | 7 | 0.5% | |
| Total number of diagnoses† | 212 | 3.1% | Total number of diagnoses† | 89 | 6.4% | ||
| Total number of patients diagnosed with cancer | 209 | 3.1% | Total number of patients diagnosed with cancer | 87 | 6.3% | ||
| Breast lump |
1 | Breast cancer | 179 | 3.5% | Breast cancer | 1138 | 10.3% |
| 2 | Melanoma | 4 | 0.1% | Colorectal cancer | 9 | 0.1% | |
| 3 | Colorectal cancer | 2 | 0.0% | Lung cancer | 6 | 0.1% | |
| Total number of diagnoses† | 194 | 3.8% | Total number of diagnoses† | 1184 | 10.8% | ||
| Total number of patients diagnosed with cancer | 191 | 3.7% | Total number of patients diagnosed with cancer | 1162 | 10.6% | ||
| Haematuria | 1 | Bladder cancer | 66 | 1.6% | Bladder cancer | 139 | 5.6% |
| 2 | Prostate cancer | 54 | 1.3% | Prostate cancer | 54 | 2.2% | |
| 3 | Kidney cancer | 24 | 0.6% | Kidney cancer | 40 | 1.6% | |
| Total number of diagnoses† | 209 | 5.2% | Total number of diagnoses† | 289 | 11.6% | ||
| Total number of patients diagnosed with cancer | 200 | 5.0% | Total number of patients diagnosed with cancer | 268 | 10.8% | ||
| Post-menopausal bleeding | 1 | Uterine cancer | 38 | 2.9% | Uterine cancer | 134 | 6.0% |
| 2 | Breast cancer |
5 | 0.4% | Ovarian cancer | 11 | 0.5% | |
| 3 | Ovarian cancer | 2 | 0.2% | Breast cancer | 9 | 0.4% | |
| Total number of diagnoses† | 53 | 4.0% | Total number of diagnoses† | 179 | 8.1% | ||
| Total number of patients diagnosed with cancer | 52 | 3.9% | Total number of patients diagnosed with cancer | 171 | 7.7% |
This table was created by the authors.
*Percentage of cancer diagnoses compared with the number of patients who received or did not receive an urgent referral.
†Some patients received more than one separate cancer diagnosis within 1 year of their GP visit with a feature of interest.
GP, general practitioner.