Healthcare-seeking with lung cancer symptoms is a prerequisite for improving timely diagnosis of lung cancer. In this study we aimed to explore barriers towards contacting the general practitioner (GP) with lung cancer symptoms, and to analyse the impact of social inequality. The study is based on a nationwide survey with 69,060 individuals aged ≥40 years, randomly selected from the Danish population. The survey included information on lung cancer symptoms, GP contacts, barriers to healthcare-seeking and smoking status. Information about socioeconomics was obtained by linkage to Danish Registers. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression model were used to analyse the data. “Being too busy” and “Being worried about wasting the doctor’s time” were the most frequent barriers to healthcare-seeking with lung cancer symptoms. Individuals out of workforce and individuals who smoked more often reported “Being worried about what the doctor might find” and “Being too embarrassed” about the symptoms. The social inequality in barriers to healthcare-seeking with lung cancer symptoms is noticeable, which emphasises the necessity of focus on vulnerable groups at risk of postponing relevant healthcare-seeking.

伴随肺癌症状就医是提高肺癌及时诊断的前提。在这项研究中，我们旨在探索联系有肺癌症状的全科医生 (GP) 的障碍，并分析社会不平等的影响。该研究基于一项全国性调查，调查对象为 69,060 名年龄≥40 岁的人，随机抽取丹麦人口。该调查包括有关肺癌症状、全科医生接触、寻求医疗保健的障碍和吸烟状况的信息。有关社会经济学的信息是通过链接到丹麦登记处获得的。使用描述性统计和多变量逻辑回归模型来分析数据。“太忙”和“担心浪费医生时间”是因肺癌症状就医的最常见障碍。不工作的人和吸烟较多的人报告说，“担心医生可能会发现什么”和对症状“太尴尬”。有肺癌症状的就医障碍中的社会不平等是显而易见的，这强调了关注有可能推迟相关就医风险的弱势群体的必要性。