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Symptom Signatures and Diagnostic Timeliness in Cancer Patients: A Review of Current Evidence

Koo, MM; Hamilton, W; Walter, FM; Rubin, GP; Lyratzopoulos, G; (2017) Symptom Signatures and Diagnostic Timeliness in Cancer Patients: A Review of Current Evidence. Neoplasia , 20 (2) pp. 165-174. 10.1016/j.neo.2017.11.005. Green open access

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Abstract

Early diagnosis is an important aspect of contemporary cancer prevention and control strategies, as the majority of patients are diagnosed following symptomatic presentation. The nature of presenting symptoms can critically influence the length of the diagnostic intervals from symptom onset to presentation (the patient interval), and from first presentation to specialist referral (the primary care interval). Understanding which symptoms are associated with longer diagnostic intervals to help the targeting of early diagnosis initiatives is an area of emerging research. In this Review, we consider the methodological challenges in studying the presenting symptoms and intervals to diagnosis of cancer patients, and summarize current evidence on presenting symptoms associated with a range of common and rarer cancer sites. We propose a taxonomy of cancer sites considering their symptom signature and the predictive value of common presenting symptoms. Finally, we consider evidence on associations between symptomatic presentations and intervals to diagnosis before discussing implications for the design, implementation, and evaluation of public health or health system interventions to achieve the earlier detection of cancer.

Type: Article
Title: Symptom Signatures and Diagnostic Timeliness in Cancer Patients: A Review of Current Evidence
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.neo.2017.11.005
Publisher version: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.neo.2017.11.005
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Neoplasia Press, Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/).
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Behavioural Science and Health
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10041282
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