Londoners are the UK’s most anxious when it comes to cancer symptoms, with over 1.2 million web searches for health worries they fear could be the prelude to the cruel disease. The UK’s 30 biggest cities were ranked for Google searches per 100,000 population on health symptoms including phrase ‘Do I Have Cancer?”
London came top with 13,718 searches per 100,000 people; Liverpool 2nd with 10.911, and Manchester 3rd with 10,408. Nottingham was least anxious about cancer with just 32 queries per 100,000 residents. The new web search data study, commissioned by fashion headwear firm https://www.masumiheadwear.com, looked into what we looked up online region by region – with ‘cancer’ and ‘symptoms’ key words.
A spokesperson from Masumi said: “Cancer anxiety may be more than just a reflection of personal health concerns.
“It could be linked to broader societal factors, such as the overwhelming availability of health information online and media coverage of cancer-related stories.
“As people increasingly turn to the internet for answers, the constant exposure to cancer diagnoses in news and social media may amplify fear, even in the absence of symptoms.
“This growing digital health environment could be inadvertently fuelling a heightened sense of vulnerability, making individuals more likely to seek reassurance through self-diagnosis rather than seeking professional medical advice.”
They analysed two key Google queries: “Do I have cancer?” and “Cancer symptoms.”
The number of searches per 100K residents were calculated to adjust huge conurbations to smaller cities to accurately identify where concerns about cancer symptoms are most prevalent.
With a huge population of 8.907,918 you would naturally expect the capital to top the list of queries, but when adjusted to per 100,000 people, London is still the most anxious – with 13,718 searches.
Liverpool ranks 2nd with 10,911 searches per 100,000 residents – while 3rd is Manchester with 10,408 cancer symptom and diagnosis queries.
The huge amount of Google searches leaks into a separate new study – by the University of Manchester and published in the British Journal of General Practice – that reveals patients who see a GP face to face are more likely to be satisfied with their care.
A study found patient satisfaction was lower at surgeries that relied more both on telephone appointments and consultations with staff who are not GPs.
These non-GP staff may include advanced nurse practitioners, physician associates (PAs), practice-based pharmacists and paramedics.
Furthermore, practices which offered more same-day appointments also had patients who were less satisfied than those in other surgeries.
The team concluded: “Patient satisfaction and ability to have health needs met is associated with face-to-face access to GPs as well as the total volume of appointments available.
“The results suggest that patients’ perceptions of access involve more than immediate availability of appointments or that patients may struggle to get appointments at practices offering more same-day appointments.
“Initiatives to improve access to and satisfaction with general practice should prioritise expanding face-to-face GP appointments.”
