TOPLINE:

Patients with urgent suspected cancer referrals who historically consulted primary care infrequently showed higher odds of a diagnosis of cancer than those who consulted frequently.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a historical cohort study including adults registered at a large primary care practice in England between January 2000 and December 2023 to quantify the association between consultation frequencies with a GP and conversions of referrals to a diagnosis of cancer.
• Patients had no prior diagnosis of cancer, had at least 3 years of continuous registration, and received their first urgent suspected cancer referrals before December 2023 (n = 2818; mean age, 59 years; 62% women).
• The conversion of urgent suspected cancer referrals to cancer was noted as any malignant neoplastic disease code (except basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma) added within 6 months of the referral.
• The frequency of consultation with GPs, physicians' associates, nurse practitioners, and paramedics was counted during the 19-36 months before urgent suspected cancer referrals and classified as 0-1, 2-3, 4-6, 7-11, and 12 or more consultations over the 18-month period.

TAKEAWAY:

• Overall, 12% of patients had a conversion of their first urgent suspected cancer referral to cancer within 6 months.
• Moreover, 17% of those with 0-1 consultation vs 9% of those with 12 or more consultations were diagnosed with cancer.
• The least frequent consultations (0-1) were associated with 2.7-fold higher odds of a conversion of urgent suspected cancer referral to cancer than the most frequent consultations (12 or more; adjusted odds ratio, 2.7; P < .001).

IN PRACTICE:

"Flagging infrequent attenders' records would alert primary care clinicians to them, enabling GPs to act appropriately when planning investigations of their presented symptoms," the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Judith Burchardt, MRCGP, GP Parkside Family Practice and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, England. It was published online on April 02, 2026, in BJGP Open.

LIMITATIONS:

The study was conducted at a single general practice, which may have limited the generalisability of results. Coding errors in patient notes due to human error and misdiagnoses may be possible. Information on exercise and employment status was not available in general practice records.

DISCLOSURES:

No funding sources or disclosures were provided for the study.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.