Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide, primarily due to the late stage at which patients are diagnosed. In Wales, lung cancer has a high incidence of 2,300 new cases per year and poor one-year survival of just 30%.
Within Hywel Dda University Health Board, GP cluster areas with greater social deprivation have a higher incidence and a greater proportion of late-stage lung cancer at presentation in comparison to affluent areas. In 2016-17, only 15% of lung cancers in HDUHB were diagnosed at an early stage. Survival in early stages is 71% at the end of first year, while late stage is very poor. During the first wave of the Covid pandemic, there was a reduction of up to 70% in new lung cancer diagnoses across Wales. Overall, the number of new cancer diagnosis has reduced by 20% in the year 2020-21 compared to 2019-20 in Hywel Dda University Health Board (HDUHB).
A quiz was developed as part of the HDUHB Lung Cancer Symptom Assessment Line (LUMEN) service to understand the public’s knowledge of the common symptoms of lung cancer and 87 people participated in the quiz. We found that many people did not recognise all the symptoms of lung cancer.
Based on this, clinicians and researchers in Hywel Dda University Health Board and Swansea University are now looking to develop a validated quiz to understand awareness of lung cancer symptoms and causes amongst the public across Wales. Our aim is to raise awareness to enable the public to engage and present to their GP surgery for advice and assessment, to try to increase the earlier presentation of lung cancer, thus improving overall outcomes.
We are keen for the members of the Tenovus Cancer Care All-Wales Cancer Community to test the 5 minute quiz and give their feedback to help make it user friendly. We want your help to produce a quiz that can be understood by the public in Wales.
The quiz can be answered using this link.
If you’d like to participate in a focus group, please email us at ResearchSupport.HDD@wales.nhs.uk