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One in three lung cancer sufferers die within 90 days of diagnosis, according to research published yesterday, suggesting GPs are struggling to spot early signs of the disease.
Respiratory physician Dr Emma O’Dowd who carried out the research at Nottingham University, said family doctors needed more helping in recognising patients at a high risk of lung cancer.
The research found that of those who die within three months of discovering the cancer, one in 10 die within a month, while one in 20 are not diagnosed until they have died.
Dr O’Dowd said “surprisingly” her research found that those who are given a late diagnosis on average visited their their GP five times in the few months beforehand, countering a common preconception that they would not seek medical attention.
It was therefore “key” to find out what symptoms they were displaying in those consultations, she said, and how they could be better identified by GPs as being linked to lung cancer.
