Using a participant-completed questionnaire to identify symptoms that predict chest and respiratory disease (IPCARD): a feasibility study

Brindle, L., Dowswell, G., James, E.P., Clifford, S., Ocansey, L., Hamilton, W. and Banerjee, A. (2015) Using a participant-completed questionnaire to identify symptoms that predict chest and respiratory disease (IPCARD): a feasibility study NSPCR (Submitted)

Abstract

Most of those with lung cancer are diagnosed at a late stage when curative treatment is not possible. It is known that there are both patient and GP delays in detecting lung cancer in the UK. Government guidelines recommend referral for chest Xray if any 1 of 10 possible lung cancer symptoms is unexplained or present for more than 3 weeks. However, these symptoms often have other causes and some are very common. There is a pressing need for information about symptoms that will help GPs distinguish between patients with minor illness or chronic respiratory disease and those who may have lung cancer. The absence of evidence about symptoms reflects the cost and size of the studies required to calculate the likelihood that someone reporting a symptom (or group of symptoms) to their doctor has lung cancer. This research aims to generate evidence needed to improve earlier detection of lung cancer in 2 ways: i. By developing and validating a patient completed symptom questionnaire. This would reduce the costs of future large scale studies. These future studies would identify how likely it is that someone experiencing a particular symptom has lung cancer. ii. To inform the design and demonstrate the feasibility of a future study involving those referred by their GP for a chest Xray. This future study with chest Xray attendees would provide a cost effective means of evaluating the use of a symptom based risk score to identify those at high risk of lung cancer. If successful, the study with chest Xray attendees would provide evidence in support of the development of a symptom risk score to support GPs referral decisions and identify those in the general population at high risk of lung cancer

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Contributors

Author: L. Brindle

Author: E.P. James

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