Patients who take their symptoms less seriously are more likely to have colorectal cancer.

ABSTRACT:

Background

People vary in how they respond to symptoms. The purpose of this study was to assess whether serious disease is more likely to be present in patients who report that they take any symptoms less seriously than other people do, and to assess the reliability of a question which can be used to identify the extent to which patients take any symptom seriously. To do this we assessed whether the likelihood of detecting colorectal cancer is higher in patients who report that they take symptoms less seriously than other people do.

Methods

Cross sectional study of 7736 patients who had colonoscopy to find colorectal cancer. Before colonoscopy, patients completed a questionnaire on bowel symptoms and were also asked: "Compared to other people of your age and sex, how serious

SUBMITTER: Adelstein BA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3522996 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature