Characteristics of customary non-attenders in general practice who are diagnosed with cancer: A cross-sectional study in Denmark

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore individual and structural factors in patients with cancer and their potential association with customary non-attendance in general practice.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a population-based cross-sectional study of all patients aged 50-89 years who were diagnosed with an incident cancer in 2009-2013 in Denmark. We investigated associations between being a customary non-attender (defined as having no consultations in general practice in the 19-36 months before diagnosis) and selected patient-related factors (demography, socioeconomic status), health-related factors (multimorbidity) and structural factors (urbanisation degree, list size of general practice and use of out-of-hours services) using logistic regression.

RESULTS: A total of 123,943 cancer patients were included; 11,567 (9.3%) of these were non-attenders. Non-attendance was associated with being more than 70 years of age, being single, having short or long education and being financially affluent. Non-attendance was rarely seen in cancer patients with (multi)morbidity, in individuals living in an area with 2,000-99,999 inhabitants and in individuals having contact with the out-of-hours services.

CONCLUSION: Specific groups of cancer patients were more often customary non-attenders in general practice. General practice may need to reach out more directly to these patients to ensure more timely cancer diagnosis.