The time patients wait before seeking help for cancer symptoms is among the most important factors contributing to diagnostic delays in cancer. We reviewed the association between time to help-seeking and three psychological factors: symptom knowledge, symptom interpretation, and beliefs about cancer. Forty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria, providing data from 22 countries concerning seven cancer sites. Better symptom knowledge was related to lower odds of a long help-seeking interval in both studies with healthy populations (OR = .73, 95% CI [.63, .84], k = 19) and patients (OR = .40, 95% CI [.23, .69], k = 12), and so was interpreting experienced symptoms as cancer-related (OR = .52, 95% CI [.36, .75], k = 13 studies with patients). More positive beliefs about cancer (i.e., that cancer is treatable) were associated with lower odds of a long help-seeking interval in both studies with healthy populations (OR = .70, 95% CI [.52, .92], k = 11) and with patients (OR = .51, 95% CI [.32, .82], k = 7). Symptom knowledge, interpretation, and beliefs about cancer are likely to be universal predictors of help-seeking and should be incorporated into theoretical models of patient help-seeking and interventions aiming to reduce delays.

中文翻译：

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与寻找癌症症状的时间相关的心理因素：跨癌症站点的荟萃分析。

患者等待寻求癌症症状帮助之前的等待时间是导致癌症诊断延迟的最重要因素之一。我们回顾了寻求帮助的时间与三个心理因素之间的关联：症状知识，症状解释和对癌症的信念。47项研究符合纳入标准，提供了来自22个国家的有关7个癌症部位的数据。在健康人群（OR = .73，95％CI [.63，.84]，k = 19）和患者（OR = .40， 95％CI [.23，.69]，k = 12），因此将经历的症状解释为与癌症相关（OR = .52，95％CI [.36，.75]，k = 13与患者有关的研究） 。对癌症抱有更积极的信念（即，健康人群（OR = .70，95％CI [.52，.92]，k = 11）和患者（OR = .70 .51，95％CI [.32，.82]，k = 7）。关于癌症的症状知识，解释和信念可能是寻求帮助的普遍预测因素，应将其纳入患者寻求帮助和旨在减少延误的干预措施的理论模型中。