Patients with mouth and oesophageal cancers take longer to seek help from GP

New research shows that lack of awareness of the symptoms of mouth and oesophageal cancer means people wait much longer before visiting their GPs than people with symptoms of other cancers.

Two of the key symptoms for these cancers – difficulty swallowing and ulcers that don’t heal – are the least well-known by the public for their links with cancer
    - Dr Georgios Lyratzopoulos

New research from Cambridge, Durham and Bangor found that people with mouth cancer wait for around a month after first spotting symptoms before visiting their GP, and those with oesophageal cancer around three weeks.

Patients with bladder and kidney cancer, however, wait only two or three days before reporting their symptoms to a doctor.

Published in the International Journal of Cancer, the study drew on data from the National Audit of Cancer Diagnosis in Primary Care and included GP consultations with more than 10,000 patients with 18 different cancer types.


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Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge

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