Loyalty cards could be used to detect cancer cases earlier, study suggests

Store loyalty cards can be used to alert cancer cases earlier based on the purchase of over-the-counter drugs, the groundbreaking study suggests.

The researchers found that the amount of painkillers and indigestion remedies purchased by women was higher among those who were later diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

This change in shopping habits was recorded eight months before diagnosis, suggesting that the data can be used as an early warning system. Purchases made by 283 women over the course of six years in Boots and Tesco were investigated to see if they could be associated with ovarian cancer. Approximately 153 people have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, while the rest have not.

Participants were also asked to complete a questionnaire about risk factors, symptoms, and the number of GP visits they had during the year prior to referral or cancer diagnosis.

Groundbreaking research suggests store loyalty cards could be used to detect cancer cases earlier based on purchases of over-the-counter drugs.

On average, ovarian cancer patients began recognizing their symptoms about four and a half months before being diagnosed and visited their GP about a month later, a Cancer Research UK-supported study found.

Lead author Dr James Flanagan of Imperial College London said: [study] suggests that long before women recognize their symptoms as worrisome enough to see a GP, they may be able to treat them at home. We hope this study will help identify symptoms of ovarian cancer earlier and improve patient treatment options.”

Ovarian cancer is the sixth most common cancer in the UK, with around 7,400 cases diagnosed each year and more than 4,000 deaths each year from the disease.

Symptoms include loss of appetite, stomach pain, and bloating, and women often turn to over-the-counter medications such as antacids because they do not consider their condition to be serious.

As a result, many patients are only diagnosed after the cancer has spread, reducing their chances of survival from 93 percent (stage 1) to 13 percent (stage 4). One in five cases are diagnosed in the emergency room, and many patients are too ill to receive effective treatment.

Experts said more research is needed to confirm the findings, which were published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance. They are also looking into whether buying over-the-counter products can be used in a similar way to screen for other types of cancer, such as stomach, liver, and bladder cancer.