Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Apr 26:381:e073269.
doi: 10.1136/bmj-2022-073269.

Age and sex can predict cancer risk in people referred with breast symptoms

Affiliations

Age and sex can predict cancer risk in people referred with breast symptoms

Toral Gathani et al. BMJ. .

Abstract

Toral Gathani and colleagues argue that risk stratification by age and sex should be used to help manage demand on breast clinics efficiently to minimise delays in diagnosis

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: We have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and have the following interests to declare. TG is a member of the Academic and Research Committee for the Association of Breast Surgery, the Clinical Advisory Panel for Cancer Research UK, and National Audit of Primary Breast Cancer Audit Advisory Committee. RIC is a trustee and chair of the Academic and Research Committee for the Association of Breast Surgery, a committee member for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, joint lead investigator for the EndoNET Trial, and has received research support from SECA and Astra-Zeneca. DD and KH are the oncology and surgical leads for the National Audit of Primary Breast Cancer. KH is the chair of the EndoNet Trial Steering Committee. GKR is a committee member for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. TG, SS, SWK, and/DD are funded in part by Cancer Research UK (C16077/A29186, C8225/A21133).

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
Rates of cancer diagnosis among people referred for urgent and routine assessment, 2009-20
Fig 2
Fig 2
Urgent and routine referrals for suspected breast cancer in England by age, 2009-20

References

    1. Sung H, Ferlay J, Siegel RL, et al. . Global cancer statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J Clin 2021;71:209-49. 10.3322/caac.21660 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hanna TP, King WD, Thibodeau S, et al. . Mortality due to cancer treatment delay: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ 2020;371:m4087. 10.1136/bmj.m4087 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ginsburg O, Yip CH, Brooks A, Cabanes A, Caleffi M, Dunstan Yataco JA, et al. Breast cancer early detection: a phased approach to implementation. Cancer 2020;126 Suppl 10(Suppl 10):2379-93. - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization. WHO guide to the early diagnosis of cancer. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/guide-to-cancer-early-diagnosis. 2017.
    1. NHS Digital. Routes to diagnosis, England. 2018. https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/rou....