Table 2

Frequency of lung cancer investigation

	Investigation		N (vignettes)
	n	Per cent	N (vignettes)
Total	1000	74.18	1348
(a) By ‘patient’ characteristic
Risk level
Low	339	75.00	452
Medium	327	72.35	452
High	334	75.23	444
Clinical profile*
1: PPV=0.4% (younger; ns; 1–2 weeks breathless (and fatigue))	152	66.96	227
2: PPV=1.1% (younger; s; 1–2 weeks chest pain (and cough))	187	83.11	225
3: PPV=1.7% (older; s; ∼3 weeks chest pain (and cough))	195	85.90	227
4: PPV=2.5% (older; ns; ∼3 weeks cough (and appetite loss))	132	58.67	225
5: PPV=3–4% (younger; s; >5 weeks breathless (and fatigue))	185	82.59	224
6: PPV∼14% (older; s; >5 weeks chest pain (and weight loss))	149	67.73	220
Gender
Female	489	74.09	660
Male	511	74.27	688
Socioeconomic circumstances
Disadvantaged	508	74.49	682
Advantaged	492	73.87	666
Ethnicity
White	369	76.56	482
Black	306	71.50	428
South Asian	325	74.20	438
Second symptom elicited
No	361	63.33	570
Yes	639	82.13	778
(b) By GP participant characteristic
GP gender
Female	425	70.48	603
Male	573	77.12	743
GP age range
25–34 years	227	70.06	324
35–44 years	336	72.89	461
45–54 years	325	78.69	413
55–64 years	102	75.00	136
65 years or over/missing	8	66.67	12
Years since qualifying
0–2 years ago	120	71.43	168
2–5 years ago	186	69.14	269
5–10 years ago	177	73.75	240
10–20 years ago	256	77.58	330
20+ years ago	259	76.40	339
Ethnicity
White	583	73.89	789
Black	34	80.95	42
South Asian	296	73.63	402
Other/missing	90	75.63	119
Region
London	365	73.44	497
East of England	341	74.95	455
North–West	131	76.16	172
West Midlands	96	72.73	132
Surrey and Sussex	41	75.93	54
Locum GP	24	66.67	36

*Younger=late 50s; older=late seventies; s=smoker; ns=non-smoker; (symptom)=not volunteered by patient.
GP, general practitioner; PPV, positive predictive values.