Prioritising primary care patients with unexpected weight loss for cancer investigation: diagnostic accuracy study.
Brian David NicholsonPaul AveyardSarah J PriceFd Richard HobbsConstantinos KoshiarisWillie HamiltonPublished in: BMJ (Clinical research ed.) (2020)
The risk of cancer in adults with unexpected WL presenting to primary care is 2% or less and does not merit investigation under current UK guidelines. However, in male ever smokers aged 50 years or older and in patients with concurrent clinical features, the risk of cancer warrants referral for invasive investigation. Clinical features typically associated with specific cancer sites are markers of several cancer types when they occur with unexpected WL.