GPs should go with their gut feeling when they suspect serious disease, say researchers

A general practitioner’s suspicion of serious disease should be enough to ensure rapid investigation even in the absence of conventional signs and symptoms, Danish researchers have said.1 A prospective population based cohort study involving over 400 GPs and 16 000 patient contacts found that a GP’s suspicion at the end of a consultation was strongly predictive of cancer or serious disease.

A total of 404 of the 845 invited GPs from a mix of urban, semi-urban, …