Pancreatic Cancer Risk Assessment Tools in Primary Care: A Mixed Methods Systematic Review.

Background: Pancreatic cancer is the twelfth most common cancer worldwide, but high mortality rates make it the sixth leading cause of cancer deaths. Diagnosis is frequently too late for curative intervention. Risk assessment tools incorporating diagnostic prediction models may assist early pancreatic cancer detection by primary care clinicians.

Aim and methods: This mixed methods systematic review aims to identify risk assessment tools which can be used for the detection of pancreatic cancer and have been investigated in primary care. It also seeks to synthesise the qualitative and quantitative evidence relating to the patient and clinician perspectives and experiences with these tools.

Results: Ten studies were included with five risk assessment tools identified: 'QCancer', 'eRATs' (electronic risk assessment tools), 'CaDet', 'Future Health Today' and 'C the Signs'. No tools were found for pancreatic cancer alone. Thematic synthesis of stakeholder perspectives resulted in three themes: impact on clinical decision-making, impact on patient consultations and implementation barriers and facilitators. Overall, experiences and impacts were positive, especially if used by less experienced clinicians.

Conclusion: There is little evidence for the inclusion of many developed pancreatic cancer diagnostic prediction models in risk assessment tools in primary care, and limited research into stakeholder perceptions, especially patient perceptions. This review can inform future tool development, and further research should be undertaken assessing these tools' clinical validity to encourage uptake in clinical practice.

Study registration: This study was registered prospectively as PROSPERO CRD42024488160.