The Danish cancer pathway for patients with serious non-specific symptoms and signs of cancer-a cross-sectional study of patient characteristics and cancer probability

BMC Cancer

Volumn 15, Issue 1, 2015, Pages

  Ingeman, Mads Lind ^a   Christensen, Morten Bondo ^a   Bro, Flemming ^a   Knudsen, Søren T ^b   Vedsted, Peter ^a  

^a AARHUS UNIVERSITY   (Denmark)

^b AARHUS UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL   (Denmark)

Author keywords

Cancer symptoms; Denmark; Diagnosis; Fast track; General practice; Neoplasm

Indexed keywords

AGED; ARTICLE; CANCER DIAGNOSIS; CANCER PATIENT; CANCER REGISTRY; CANCER RISK; CANCER SURVIVAL; CLINICAL FEATURE; COLORECTAL CANCER; CONTROLLED STUDY; CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY; DANISH CITIZEN; FATIGUE; FEMALE; GENERAL PRACTICE; GENERAL PRACTITIONER; HEMATOLOGIC MALIGNANCY; HOSPITAL; HUMAN; LUNG CANCER; MAJOR CLINICAL STUDY; MALE; PANCREAS CANCER; PATIENT REFERRAL; PREVALENCE; PROBABILITY; QUESTIONNAIRE; SERIOUS NON SPECIFIC SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF CANCER; STATISTICAL MODEL; SYMPTOM; SYMPTOMATOLOGY; WEIGHT REDUCTION; ADOLESCENT; ADULT; DENMARK; MIDDLE AGED; NEOPLASMS; SYMPTOM ASSESSMENT; VERY ELDERLY; YOUNG ADULT;

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AGED; AGED, 80 AND OVER; CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDIES; DENMARK; FEMALE; HUMANS; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; NEOPLASMS; REFERRAL AND CONSULTATION; SURVEYS AND QUESTIONNAIRES; SYMPTOM ASSESSMENT; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 85019185782     PISSN: None     EISSN: 14712407     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1186/s12885-015-1424-5     Document Type: Article

References (43)

1. Helweg-Larsen K. The Danish register of causes of death. Scand J Public Health. 2011;39(7):26-9.
2. Coleman MP, Forman D, Bryant H, Butler J, Rachet B, Maringe C, et al. Cancer survival in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the UK, 1995-2007 (the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership): an analysis of population-based cancer registry data. Lancet. 2011;377(9760):127-38.
3. De Angelis R, Sant M, Coleman MP, Francisci S, Baili P, Pierannunzio D, et al. Cancer survival in Europe 1999-2007 by country and age: results of EUROCARE-5-a population-based stud. Lancet Oncol. 2014;15(1):23-34.
4. Torring ML, Frydenberg M, Hansen RP, Olesen F, Vedsted P. Evidence of increasing mortality with longer diagnostic intervals for five common cancers: A cohort study in primary care. Eur J Cancer. 2013;49(9):2187-98.
5. Torring ML, Frydenberg M, Hamilton W, Hansen RP, Lautrup MD, Vedsted P. Diagnostic interval and mortality in colorectal cancer: U-shaped association demonstrated for three different datasets. J Clin Epidemiol. 2012;65(6):669-78.
6. Hamilton W. Five misconceptions in cancer diagnosis. Br J Gen Pract. 2009;59(563):441-5. 447; discussion 446.
7. Starfield B. Is primary care essential? Lancet. 1994;344:1129-33.
8. Nielsen TN, Hansen RP, Vedsted P. Symptom presentation in cancer patients in general practice. Ugeskr Laeger. 2010;172(41):2827-31.
9. Hansen RP. Delay in the diagnosis of cancer PhD thesis. Aarhus: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Aarhus; 2008.
10. Allgar VL, Neal RD. General practictioners' management of cancer in England: secondary analysis of data from the National Survey of NHS Patients-Cancer. Eur J Cancer Care (Engl). 2005;14(5):409-16.
11. Christensen KG, Fenger-Gron M, Flarup KR, Vedsted P. Use of general practice, diagnostic investigations and hospital services before and after cancer diagnosis-a population-based nationwide registry study of 127,000 incident adult cancer patients. BMC Health Serv Res. 2012;12(1):224.
12. Olesen F, Hansen RP, Vedsted P. Delay in diagnosis: the experience in Denmark. Br J Cancer. 2009;101:S5-8.
13. Weller D, Vedsted P, Rubin G, Walter FM, Emery J, Scott S, et al. The Aarhus statement: improving design and reporting of studies on early cancer diagnosis. Br J Cancer. 2012;106(7):126210-1267.
14. The National Board oH. National Cancer Plan II Denmark National Board of Health recommendations for improving cancer healthcare services. Copenhagen: The National Board of Health; 2005.
15. Department oH. The NHS Cancer Plan. A plan for investment, A plan for reform. London: Department of Health; 2000.
16. Probst HB, Hussain ZB, Andersen O. Cancer patient pathways in Denmark as a joint effort between bureaucrats, health professionals and politicians-A national Danish project. Health Policy. 2012;105(1):65-70.
17. Mulka O. NICE suspected cancer guidelines. Br J Gen Pract. 2005;55(517):580-1.
18. Probst HB, Hussain ZB, Andersen O. Cancer patient pathways in Denmark as a joint effort between bureaucrats, health professionals and politicians-A national Danish project. Health Policy. 2012;105(1):65-70.
19. Jones R, Rubin G, Hungin P. Is the two week rule for cancer referrals working? BMJ. 2001;322(7302):1555-6.
20. Neal RD, Din NU, Hamilton W, Ukoumunne OC, Carter B, Stapley S, et al. Comparison of cancer diagnostic intervals before and after implementation of NICE guidelines: analysis of data from the UK General Practice Research Database. Br J Cancer. 2014;110(3):584-92.
21. Jensen H, Torring ML, Olesen F, Overgaard J, Vedsted P. Cancer suspicion in general practice, urgent referral and time to diagnosis: a population-based GP survey and registry study. BMC Cancer. 2014;14(1):636-2407. 14-636.
22. Meechan D, Gildea C, Hollingworth L, Richards MA, Riley D, Rubin G. Variation in use of the 2-week referral pathway for suspected cancer: A cross-sectional analysis. Br J Gen Pract. 2012;62(602):590-7.
23. Vedsted P, Olesen F. A differentiated approach to referrals from general practice to support early cancer diagnosis - the Danish three-legged strategy. Br J Cancer. 2015;112(Suppl):S65-9.
24. Hamilton W. The CAPER studies: five case-control studies aimed at identifying and quantifying the risk of cancer in symptomatic primary care patients. Br J Cancer. 2009;101 Suppl 2:S80-6. S80-S86.
25. Pedersen KM, Andersen JS, Sondergaard J. General practice and primary health care in Denmark. J Am Board Fam Med. 2012;25 Suppl 1:S34-8.
26. Pedersen CB. The Danish Civil Registration System. Scand J Public Health. 2011;39(7):22-5.
27. Soler JK, Okkes I, Wood M, Lamberts H. The coming of age of ICPC: celebrating the 21st birthday of the International Classification of Primary Care. Fam Pract. 2008;25(4):312-7.
28. Stolper E, Van RP, Dinant GJ. The 'sense of alarm' ('gut feeling') in clinical practice. A survey among European general practitioners on recognition and expression. Eur J Gen Pract. 2010;16(2):72-4.
29. Gjerstorff ML. The Danish Cancer Registry. Scand J Public Health. 2011;39(7):42-5.
30. Storm HH, Michelsen EV, Clemmensen IH, Pihl J. The Danish Cancer Registry-history, content, quality and use. Dan Med Bull. 1997;44:535-9.
31. Danish National Board of Health. The Cancer Registry 2009 in Danish. 2010. p. 1-55.
32. Larsen MB, Jensen H, Hansen RP, Olesen F, Vedsted P. Identification of patients with incident cancers using administrative registry data. Dan Med J. 2014;61(2):A4777.
33. Moth G, Vedsted P, Olesen F. Kontakt- og sygdomsmønsteret i almen praksis. KOS 2008. Aarhus: Forskningsenheden for Almen Praksis i Aarhus, Aarhus Universitet; 2010.
34. Jensen H, Torring ML, Larsen MB, Vedsted P. Existing data sources for clinical epidemiology: Danish Cancer in Primary Care cohort. Clin Epidemiol. 2014;6:237-46.
35. Cook MB, Dawsey SM, Freedman ND, Inskip PD, Wichner SM, Quraishi SM, et al. Sex disparities in cancer incidence by period and age. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2009;18(4):1174-82.
36. Edgren G, Liang L, Adami HO, Chang ET. Enigmatic sex disparities in cancer incidence. Eur J Epidemiol. 2012;27(3):187-96.
37. Hansen RP, Vedsted P, Sokolowski I, Sondergaard J, Olesen F. Time intervals from first symptom to treatment of cancer: a cohort study of 2,212 newly diagnosed cancer patients. BMC Health Serv Res. 2011;11(1):284.
38. Lyratzopoulos G, Abel GA, McPhail S, Neal RD, Rubin GP. Measures of promptness of cancer diagnosis in primary care: secondary analysis of national audit data on patients with 18 common and rarer cancers. Br J Cancer. 2013;108(3):686-90.
39. Guldbrandt LM, Fenger-Gron M, Folkersen BH, Rasmussen TR, Vedsted P. Reduced specialist time with direct computed tomography for suspected lung cancer in primary care. Dan Med J. 2013;60(12):A4738.
40. Bosch X, Escoda O, Nicolas D, Coloma E, Fernandez S, Coca A, et al. Primary care referrals of patients with potentially serious diseases to the emergency department or a quick diagnosis unit: a cross-sectional retrospective study. BMC Fam Pract. 2014;15(1):75.
41. Hjertholm P, Moth G, Ingeman ML, Vedsted P. Predictive values of GPs' suspicion of serious disease: a population-based follow-up study. Br J Gen Pract. 2014;64(623):e346-53.
42. Rubin G, Vedsted P, Emery J. Improving cancer outcomes: Better access to diagnostics in primary care could be critical. 2011. p. 317-8.
43. Baughan P, Keatings J, O'Neill B. Urgent suspected cancer referrals from general practice: audit of compliance with guidelines and referral outcomes. Br J Gen Pract. 2011;61(592):700-6.