Oncology: 4 alarming symptoms that predict the disease 3 years before the diagnosis of “cancer”

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It's perfectly normal to feel out of sorts from time to time, but confused persistent changes may signal something more serious. According to the NHS, a trap that many cancer patients fall into is that they initially mistake the former for the latter. The result is critical delays in receiving verification.

A large study was aimed at identifying “alarming” symptoms that indicate a possible diagnosis of cancer. The large population-based study was based on data from the UK General Practice Research Database – a computerized database of anonymised patient medical records.

Four “worrisome” symptoms were studied for the diagnosis of neoplasms of the urinary tract, respiratory tract, esophagus, or colon and rectum within three years of symptom onset. A tumor is an abnormal mass of tissue that forms when cells grow and divide more than they should, or don't die when they should. Neoplasms can be benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous).

Researchers focused on the following symptoms:

• Blood in the urine (hematuria)
• Coughing up blood (hemoptysis)
• Difficulty swallowing (dysphagia)
• Rectal bleeding

What was found researchers?

During three years, 11,108 first cases of hematuria were associated with 472 new diagnoses of urinary tract cancer in men and 162 in women. After 4,812 new episodes of hemoptysis, 220 men were diagnosed with respiratory tract cancer and 81 women. After 5,999 new diagnoses of dysphagia, 150 men and 81 women were diagnosed with esophageal cancer.

They concluded:

They concluded:

“The new onset of anxiety symptoms is associated with an increased likelihood of a cancer diagnosis, especially in men and people aged 65 and over. These data support early assessment of alarming symptoms in an attempt to detect underlying cancers at an earlier, more treatable stage.”