Abstract 46P
Background
There is limited knowledge of the early signs and symptoms of sarcoma that people present with when consulting their general practitioner (GP). However, gaining a deeper understanding of this pre-diagnostic trajectory holds the potential to create referral guidelines and interventions. Our aim was to investigate the pattern of GP visits within the 12 months leading up to individuals’ sarcoma diagnosis and comparing it to a control group without cancer.
Methods
Individuals newly diagnosed with a sarcoma in 2010-2020 were identified through the Netherlands Cancer Registry and linked to Nivel Primary Care Database, covering approximately 10% of the Dutch population. Sarcoma cases were age and gender matched to cancer-free controls (2:1 or 1:1 ratio). Consultations at the GP and the symptoms patients presented with were extracted for the 12 months preceding the diagnosis.
Results
A total of 787 individuals with soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) and 188 individuals with bone sarcoma (BS) were identified. No differences were observed between STS cases and controls up to 8 months before diagnosis, and for BS cases and controls, this pattern persisted up to 7 months before diagnosis. A noticeable increase in the mean monthly number of GP consultations was evident from 4 months to the last month before STS diagnosis, while for BS cases, this increase was already apparent in the 5 months preceding the diagnosis. Most prevalent health conditions for which STS cases contacted the GP were nonspecific and included musculoskeletal neoplasm (26.6%), uncomplicated hypertension (15.6%) and cystitis/other urinary infections (12.2%). Musculoskeletal neoplasm (42.8%), knee symptoms/complaints (9.7%) and shoulder symptoms/complaints (9.7%) were the most frequently recorded heath conditions for BS cases.
Conclusions
An increase in GP consultations was observed before the diagnosis of sarcoma. STS cases predominantly manifested with nonspecific symptoms, whereas BS cases presented with more clinically apparent symptoms. A better understanding of the pre-diagnostic trajectory could aid GPs in early identification of sarcoma patients, potentially leading to the development of strategies to minimize diagnostic delays and improve patient outcomes.
Clinical trial identification
Editorial acknowledgement
Legal entity responsible for the study
The authors.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.