A study by researchers into the diagnosis of patients with lung cancer suggests that avoidable patient delays in reporting symptoms of the disease is an important factor in its treatment.
The research, carried out by the University of Southampton, The Cambridge Institute of Public Health and Leeds General Infirmary, indicates that the widely held view that lung cancer is silent until far advanced may be inaccurate.
Lung cancer remains the most common cause of death from cancer in the UK with over 33,000 deaths a year. Delay in the diagnosis of cancer is recognised as an important factor in the overall outcome of treatment. Currently, little is known about the pathway to diagnosis for cancer, especially lung cancer. However there is evidence to suggest that avoidable delays in diagnosis occur and that these are attributable to both doctor and patient behaviour.
In this new study, researchers interviewed 22 patients recently diagnosed with lung cancer at two cancer centres in the north and south of England. The interviews were used to map the history of their symptoms leading up to the diagnosis. Patients were asked to describe the nature and number of symptoms they recalled before diagnosis and to pinpoint when the health changes that ultimately led to the diagnosis of lung cancer started. Recollections more than two years before the diagnosis were not recorded as they were deemed to be insufficiently detailed. The accounts were compared with hospital and primary care records to check patients' recall.
All the patients recalled having new symptoms for many months prior to their diagnosis. A total of 30 different symptoms were experienced by patients before diagnosis, ranging from chest symptoms such as cough and breathing changes to fatigue, lethargy or weight loss which is considered to be a symptom of the advanced disease.
Although these symptoms were reported as being marked changes in their health, patients did not interpret these changes as serious or as symptoms of lung cancer and did not see their GP to discuss them. Instead they frequently sought to manage the problem themselves until it became too difficult.