Teenagers and young adults with cancer can face long delays before finally being... (g pain a lump or swelling weight loss or...)

Teenagers and young adults with cancer can face long delays before finally being diagnosed

Date:6/8/2008

g pain, a lump or swelling, weight loss or tiredness. Almost all of them had two or three of these symptoms. Of the one in five who delayed seeking help, most (63%) said that either they or their parents had felt that the symptoms weren't serious; a small number had been too embarrassed or scared to seek help.

"If young people are reporting to their GP with what are recognised as being pretty classic cancer symptoms, cancer should be considered the first possibility and not the last resort," said Ms Smith. "However, following the first onset of symptoms many young people reported numerous visits to their GP before being referred to a specialist and many waited several months for this referral to take place. Our findings do show that age is a factor in the number of GP visits, with the older age group reporting more visits before being referred.

"The minority of patients who did delay seeking help sometimes waited for several months. Of that small group, about 60% had Hodgkin lymphoma, which normally presents slowly with increasing swelling most commonly in the neck, but it can be elsewhere in the body."

Leukaemia was the quickest of the cancers to be referred to a specialist, probably because it usually presents with a number of acute signs and symptoms. "However, it is of great concern that some of the commonest cancers at this age Hodgkin lymphoma, brain and bone cancers were the slowest to be referred to a specialist. For example, 54% of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma, 59% with brain tumours and 46% with bone tumours visited their GP four or more times with symptoms before referral," said Ms Smith.

Prof Eden said: "A small number of patients may delay in seeking help and we can improve education about health and the meaning of symptoms for the public, but the biggest challenge seems to be to overcome delays by professionals. We need to assist professionals in: recognising signs and symptoms as being potentially serious; refe
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Contact: Emma Mason
wordmason@mac.com
44-077-112-96986
Teenage Cancer Trust
Source:Eurekalert

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