A new study from the Danish Cancer Society shows that many do not see a doctor quickly enough when they show signs of cancer.
How fast will you go to the doctor if you experience difficulty swallowing, change in birthmarks or permanent cough?
If it is for more than half of the Danes, then it takes just a month or longer.
It shows new figures from a study done by the Danish Cancer Society.
And so it’s not fast enough. These are all serious symptoms of cancer.
Failure to seek medical attention when one begins to show symptoms of cancer can quickly have major consequences.
This is explained by Janne Villemoes Bigaard, who is chief physician at the Danish Cancer Society.
– It can make the difference whether you can get a curative treatment and ultimately mean whether you survive your illness. Almost eight out of ten cancer diagnoses start by going to your own doctor, says Janne Villemoes Bigaard.
The seven signs of cancer
In the survey from the Danish Cancer Society, 2,000 Danes answered various questions.
54 percent, for example, have answered that they would not go to the doctor right away if they experience birthmarks that change.
And 27 percent answer that they will wait to see a doctor if they experience difficulty swallowing for more than a month.
That is why the Danish Cancer Society has launched the ‘seven characters’ campaign .
Every year, more than 16,500 Danes die of cancer. This corresponds to approx. 45 a day.
The hope, therefore, is that the campaign can help more people know the seven most common symptoms of cancer.
These include prolonged difficulty swallowing, altered bowel movements and unexplained weight loss.
