Does changing healthcare use signal opportunities for earlier detection of cancer? A review of studies using information from electronic patient records.

ABSTRACT:

Background

It has been proposed that changes in healthcare use before cancer diagnosis could signal opportunities for quicker detection, but systematic appreciation of such evidence is lacking. We reviewed studies examining pre-diagnostic changes in healthcare utilisation (e.g. rates of GP or hospital consultations, prescriptions or diagnostic tests) among patients subsequently diagnosed with cancer.

Methods

We identified studies through Pubmed searches complemented by expert elicitation. We extracted information on the earliest time point when diagnosis could have been possible for at least some cancers, together with variation in the length of such 'diagnostic windows' by tumour and patient characteristics.

Results

Across twenty-eight studies, changes in healthcare

SUBMITTER: White B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8785122 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature