What prompts help-seeking for cancer ‘alarm' symptoms? A primary care based survey

BACKGROUND: Encouraging prompt help-seeking for cancer symptoms can help shorten the patient interval and improve timely diagnosis. We explored factors associated with help-seeking in a primary care sample reporting ‘alarm' symptoms. METHODS: A questionnaire was mailed to 9771 adults (⩾50 years of age and no cancer diagnosis) and 3766 (39%) returned it. Our sample included 1732 adults reporting at least one cancer ‘alarm' symptom; with a total of 2726 symptoms. Respondents completed questions relating to help-seeking, demographic and symptom characteristics (e.g., type, knowledge, concern, interference and attribution). RESULTS: Over a third of people who reported a cancer ‘alarm' symptom in the past 3 months had not sought help from a doctor. An unexplained lump (odds ratio (OR) 2.46, 1.42–4.26) and persistent unexplained pain (OR 1.79, 1.19–2.69) were associated with increased likelihood of help-seeking. Symptom concern (OR 3.10, 2.19–4.39) and interference (OR 3.06, 2.15–4.36) were associated with an increased likelihood of seeking help independently of symptom type. People who were not working (OR 1.41, 1.09–1.83), were married/cohabiting rather than single (OR 1.38, 1.10–1.74) and were older (60–69 years) rather than younger (50–59 years; OR 1.33, 1.02–1.75) were more likely to have sought help. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlighted symptom type and symptom characteristics as key drivers of help-seeking. We also found that there may be specific demographic groups where encouraging help-seeking might be warranted.