TY - JOUR

T1 - Healthcare use in the year preceding a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer

T2 - a register-based cohort study in Denmark

AU - Rasmussen, Linda A.

AU - Virgilsen, Line F.

AU - Fristrup, Claus W.

AU - Vedsted, Peter

AU - Jensen, Henry

N1 - Funding Information: The study was supported by the M. L. Jørgensen and Gunner Hansen’s Foundation and the Danish General Practice Fund. The authors wish to thank data manager Kaare Rud Flarup for data retrieval from the national registries, and the Danish Pancreatic Cancer Group for providing the data for the study. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

PY - 2022/4

Y1 - 2022/4

N2 - Objective: To describe the use of healthcare prior to a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in Denmark. Design: A population-based cohort study using prospectively recorded data from Danish National Health Registries. Setting: Danish general practice and hospitals. Subjects: A total of 5926 patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2012–2018 and 59,260 matched references without pancreatic cancer from the Danish general population. Main outcome measures: The monthly frequency of healthcare use (contacts and tests in general practice and contacts and diagnostic investigations in hospitals) during the 12 months preceding the pancreatic cancer diagnosis and a corresponding index date assigned to the references. Results: Compared to the references, the patients had increased contacts and diagnostic tests, especially blood glucose testing, in general practice from 7 to 12 months before diagnosis. Hospital contacts and diagnostic imaging increased from 5 months before the diagnosis. Conclusions: The pattern of increasing healthcare contacts before a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer may represent a window of opportunity to diagnose pancreatic cancer earlier. The increased use of blood glucose test in general practice may represent an important sign of an underlying disease. Key points Pancreatic cancer is a rapidly progressing and highly lethal disease. Focus on early diagnosis is essential to improve the prognosis. Patients with pancreatic cancer had increased number of healthcare contacts from 7 months before the diagnosis. Patients with pancreatic cancer had increased number of blood glucose tests taken throughout almost the entire year before the diagnosis. The results may indicate that a window of opportunity exists to diagnose pancreatic cancer earlier.

AB - Objective: To describe the use of healthcare prior to a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in Denmark. Design: A population-based cohort study using prospectively recorded data from Danish National Health Registries. Setting: Danish general practice and hospitals. Subjects: A total of 5926 patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2012–2018 and 59,260 matched references without pancreatic cancer from the Danish general population. Main outcome measures: The monthly frequency of healthcare use (contacts and tests in general practice and contacts and diagnostic investigations in hospitals) during the 12 months preceding the pancreatic cancer diagnosis and a corresponding index date assigned to the references. Results: Compared to the references, the patients had increased contacts and diagnostic tests, especially blood glucose testing, in general practice from 7 to 12 months before diagnosis. Hospital contacts and diagnostic imaging increased from 5 months before the diagnosis. Conclusions: The pattern of increasing healthcare contacts before a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer may represent a window of opportunity to diagnose pancreatic cancer earlier. The increased use of blood glucose test in general practice may represent an important sign of an underlying disease. Key points Pancreatic cancer is a rapidly progressing and highly lethal disease. Focus on early diagnosis is essential to improve the prognosis. Patients with pancreatic cancer had increased number of healthcare contacts from 7 months before the diagnosis. Patients with pancreatic cancer had increased number of blood glucose tests taken throughout almost the entire year before the diagnosis. The results may indicate that a window of opportunity exists to diagnose pancreatic cancer earlier.

KW - Denmark

KW - early detection of cancer

KW - general practice

KW - health services research

KW - Pancreatic neoplasms

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85132666531&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/02813432.2022.2069730

DO - 10.1080/02813432.2022.2069730

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 35485773

AN - SCOPUS:85132666531

VL - 40

SP - 197

EP - 207

JO - Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care

JF - Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care

SN - 0281-3432

IS - 2

ER -