OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of alarm symptoms for breast, colorectal, urinary tract, and lung cancer in the general population. DESIGN: Cross-sectional questionnaire survey. SETTING: The former County of Funen, Denmark, with 480,000 inhabitants. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 13,777 randomly selected persons aged 20 years and older. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prevalence estimates of having experienced cancer alarm symptoms during the past 12 months: a lump in the breast, blood in bowel movements, blood in urine, or coughing for more than six weeks. The number of alarm symptoms experienced within the past 12 months was also calculated. RESULTS: With a response rate of 69%, 3.3% of responders (95% CI 2.9% to 3.7%) reported a lump in their breast, 5.7% (5.2% to 6.3%) reported blood in bowel movements, 2.2% (1.9% to 2.5%) reported blood in urine, and 6.5% (6.1% to 7.5%) reported coughing for more than six weeks within the past 12 months. Overall, 15.3% (95% confidence interval 14.3% to 16.3%) of the females and 12.7% (11.6% to 13.7%) of the males reported having experienced at least one cancer alarm symptom within the past 12 months. CONCLUSION: Alarm symptoms of breast, colorectal, urinary tract, and lung cancer are common in the general population and approximately 15% of the population have experienced at least one of these cancer alarm symptom within the past 12 months.
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of alarm symptoms for breast, colorectal, urinary tract, and lung cancer in the general population. DESIGN: Cross-sectional questionnaire survey. SETTING: The former County of Funen, Denmark, with 480,000 inhabitants. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 13,777 randomly selected persons aged 20 years and older. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prevalence estimates of having experienced cancer alarm symptoms during the past 12 months: a lump in the breast, blood in bowel movements, blood in urine, or coughing for more than six weeks. The number of alarm symptoms experienced within the past 12 months was also calculated. RESULTS: With a response rate of 69%, 3.3% of responders (95% CI 2.9% to 3.7%) reported a lump in their breast, 5.7% (5.2% to 6.3%) reported blood in bowel movements, 2.2% (1.9% to 2.5%) reported blood in urine, and 6.5% (6.1% to 7.5%) reported coughing for more than six weeks within the past 12 months. Overall, 15.3% (95% confidence interval 14.3% to 16.3%) of the females and 12.7% (11.6% to 13.7%) of the males reported having experienced at least one cancer alarm symptom within the past 12 months. CONCLUSION: Alarm symptoms of breast, colorectal, urinary tract, and lung cancer are common in the general population and approximately 15% of the population have experienced at least one of these cancer alarm symptom within the past 12 months.
Authors: Richard Baird; Ian Banks; David Cameron; John Chester; Helena Earl; Mark Flannagan; Adam Januszewski; Richard Kennedy; Sarah Payne; Emlyn Samuel; Hannah Taylor; Roshan Agarwal; Samreen Ahmed; Caroline Archer; Ruth Board; Judith Carser; Ellen Copson; David Cunningham; Rob Coleman; Adam Dangoor; Graham Dark; Diana Eccles; Chris Gallagher; Adam Glaser; Richard Griffiths; Geoff Hall; Marcia Hall; Danielle Harari; Michael Hawkins; Mark Hill; Peter Johnson; Alison Jones; Tania Kalsi; Eleni Karapanagiotou; Zoe Kemp; Janine Mansi; Ernie Marshall; Alex Mitchell; Maung Moe; Caroline Michie; Richard Neal; Tom Newsom-Davis; Alison Norton; Richard Osborne; Gargi Patel; John Radford; Alistair Ring; Emily Shaw; Rod Skinner; Dan Stark; Sam Turnbull; Galina Velikova; Jeff White; Alison Young; Johnathan Joffe; Peter Selby Journal: Ecancermedicalscience Date: 2016-01-05
Authors: Cecilia Högberg; Pontus Karling; Jörgen Rutegård; Mikael Lilja; Thomas Ljung Journal: Scand J Prim Health Care Date: 2013-11-06 Impact factor: 2.581