Multi-cancer early detection test in symptomatic patients referred for cancer investigation in England and Wales (SYMPLIFY): a large-scale, observational cohort study.

Background: Analysis of circulating tumour DNA could stratify cancer risk in symptomatic patients. We aimed to evaluate the performance of a methylation-based multicancer early detection (MCED) diagnostic test in symptomatic patients referred from primary care.

Methods: We did a multicentre, prospective, observational study at National Health Service (NHS) hospital sites in England and Wales.

National Cancer Diagnosis Audits for England 2018 versus 2014: a comparative analysis.

Background: Timely diagnosis of cancer in patients who present with symptoms in primary care is a quality-improvement priority.

Aim: To examine possible changes to aspects of the diagnostic process, and its timeliness, before and after publication of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence's (2015) guidance on the referral of suspected cancer in primary care.

Design And Setting: Comparison of findings from population-based clinical audits of cancer diagnosis in general practices in England for patients diagnosed in 2018 or 2014.

Establishing population-based surveillance of diagnostic timeliness using linked cancer registry and administrative data for patients with colorectal and lung cancer.

Background: Diagnostic timeliness in cancer patients is important for clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction but, to-date, continuous monitoring of diagnostic intervals in nationwide incident cohorts has been impossible in England.

Methods: We developed a new methodology for measuring the secondary care diagnostic interval (SCDI - first relevant secondary care contact to diagnosis) using linked cancer registration and healthcare utilisation data. Using this method, we subsequently examined diagnostic timeliness in colorectal and lung cancer patients (2014-15) by socio-demographic characteristics, diagnostic route and stage at diagnosis.

Diagnosing cancer in primary care: results from the National Cancer Diagnosis Audit.

Background: Continual improvements in diagnostic processes are needed to minimise the proportion of patients with cancer who experience diagnostic delays. Clinical audit is a means of achieving this.

Aim: To characterise key aspects of the diagnostic process for cancer and to generate baseline measures for future re-audit.

The expanding role of primary care in cancer control.

The nature of cancer control is changing, with an increasing emphasis, fuelled by public and political demand, on prevention, early diagnosis, and patient experience during and after treatment. At the same time, primary care is increasingly promoted, by governments and health funders worldwide, as the preferred setting for most health care for reasons of increasing need, to stabilise health-care costs, and to accommodate patient preference for care close to home. It is timely, then, to consider how this expanding role for primary care can work for cancer control, which has long been dominated by highly technical interventions centred on treatment, and in which the contribution of primary care has been largely perceived as marginal.

The International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership: an international collaboration to inform cancer policy in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership (ICBP) was initiated by the Department of Health in England to study international variation in cancer survival, and to inform policy to improve cancer survival. It is a research collaboration between twelve jurisdictions in six countries: Australia (New South Wales, Victoria), Canada (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario), Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Wales). Leadership is provided by policymakers, with academics, clinicians and cancer registries forming an international network to conduct the research.

Knowledge of lung cancer symptoms and risk factors in the U.K.: development of a measure and results from a population-based survey.

Objectives: To develop and validate a lung cancer awareness measure (Lung CAM) and explore the demographical and social predictors of lung cancer awareness in the general population. METHODS STUDY 1: Symptoms and risk factors for lung cancer were identified from the medical literature and health professional expertise in an iterative process. Test-retest reliability, internal reliability, item analyses, construct validity and sensitivity to changes in awareness of the Lung CAM were assessed in three samples (total N=191).

Assessing awareness of colorectal cancer symptoms: measure development and results from a population survey in the UK.

Background: This paper describes the development of a Cancer Awareness Measure for colorectal (CRC) cancer (Bowel/Colorectal CAMa) (study 1) and presents key results from a population-representative survey using the measure (study 2).

Methods: STUDY 1: Items were taken from the literature and reviewed by expert groups. A series of three validation studies assessed reliability and validity of the measure.

Ethnic disparities in knowledge of cancer screening programmes in the UK.

Objective: The aim of the study was to examine awareness of the three National Cancer Screening Programmes (breast, cervical, bowel) among white and ethnic minority groups in the UK.

Setting: Data were from two surveys in which the screening questions were added: (i) the Office of National Statistics (ONS) Opinions Survey, carried out in September and October 2008; and (ii) the Ethnibus™ survey of the main ethnic minority groups in England, conducted in October and November 2008.

Methods: The ONS sample consisted of 2216 adults selected using stratified probability sampling to obtain a population-representative sample.

UK Food Standards Agency Workshop Report: an investigation of the relative contributions of diet and sunlight to vitamin D status.

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) convened an international group of scientific experts to review three Agency-funded projects commissioned to provide evidence for the relative contributions of two sources, dietary vitamin D intake and skin exposure to UVB rays from sunlight, to vitamin D status. This review and other emerging evidence are intended to inform any future risk assessment undertaken by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition. Evidence was presented from randomised controlled trials to quantify the amount of vitamin D required to maintain a serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25OHD) concentration >25 nmol/l, a threshold that is regarded internationally as defining the risk of rickets and osteomalacia.

Sunbed use in children aged 11-17 in England: face to face quota sampling surveys in the National Prevalence Study and Six Cities Study.

Objectives: To quantify the use of sunbeds in young people across England, identify geographical variation, and explore patterns of use, including supervision.

Design: Two random location sampling surveys.

Setting: National Prevalence Study in England; Six Cities Study in Liverpool, Stoke/Stafford, Sunderland, Bath/Gloucester, Oxford/Cambridge, and Southampton.

The launch of Cancer Research UK's 'Reduce the Risk' campaign: baseline measurements of public awareness of cancer risk factors in 2004.

Aim: This national survey sought to establish levels of awareness of cancer risk factors and awareness of what individuals could do to reduce their own risk status.

Method: Cross-sectional interview data comprising a national representative sample of 4,233 individuals aged 15 years or over across Great Britain.

Results: There were high levels of awareness of the role of smoking in the development of cancer, but only modest awareness of alcohol intake, being overweight, physical inactivity and older age.

Public awareness regarding UV risks and vitamin D--the challenges for UK skin cancer prevention campaigns.

Since 1970s, incidence rates for malignant melanoma have been among the fastest rising of all cancers in the UK. Compared to other cancers, melanoma affects disproportionately more young people, and non-melanoma skin cancers are the most commonly diagnosed, with over 100,000 new cases estimated in the UK annually. Government targets to reduce skin cancer incidence have led working groups and prevention campaigns to be set up in the belief that moderating UV exposure will help.