A survey of cancer patients in general practice.

A study of cancer patients in general practice was carried out in a defined and limited population of 29,420 inhabitants with a known occurrence of malignancy. A cancer patient was defined as a person who had ever been diagnosed as having a malignancy. Out of 553 cancer patients living in the study area 257 (46.5%) were seen by the general practitioner during a two-month period. Cancer patients accounted for 3.9% of all encounters and the calculated yearly contact rate for these patients was more than twice that for other patients (4.3 contacts per year against 2.1). One-third of the cancer patients were not recognized as having a malignancy by the doctor, and only 1.3% of all encounters were caused by or partly caused by cancer. The diagnostic distribution of cancers among these patients correlated with the prevalence in the population, with two exceptions: gastrointestinal cancer was over-represented and skin cancer was under-represented.