Brits ‘have poor cancer symptom awareness’

British people have poor symptom awareness when it comes to diagnosing cancer, a charity has found.

A study from Cancer Research UK out today found one in seven people in the UK cannot name a single symptom of cancer.

Of nearly 4,000 people questioned, 19 per cent of men and ten per cent of women said they did not know any symptoms of the disease.

The charity also found a lack of symptom awareness was more marked in people from ethnic minorities, with 28 per cent failing to recall a symptom compared with 13 per cent of white respondents.

Sara Hiom, director of health information at Cancer Research UK, said: “It’s really important that people can recognise cancer symptoms and feel that they can report concerns to their GP at an early stage.”

Noticing a lump or skin problem were the two signs most people noticed as possible symptoms of cancer.