Psychol Health. 2008;23(8):935-44. doi: 10.1080/08870440701657494.
Many people who develop cancer symptoms wait inordinate amounts of time before seeking medical attention. Studies have found that symptom appraisal time--the time that passes before the individual concludes that their symptoms could be serious--accounts for most of the total delay time across subjects. It is thus important to understand the individual characteristics associated with slow recognition of dangerous symptoms. In this study, 62 patients (38 males) recently diagnosed with rectal cancer answered questions regarding the development of symptoms as well as their decisions and behaviors prior to seeking help. One subgroup of patients--males with the lowest scores on a measure of trait anxiety--took significantly longer to recognize the seriousness of their symptoms as compared to all other patients. This finding is discussed in the context of recent studies where the interaction of sex and negative affect is related to symptom reporting and other health-related behaviors.
许多出现癌症症状的人在寻求医疗关注之前会等待过长的时间。研究发现，症状评估时间——即个体得出其症状可能严重的时间——占所有受试者总延迟时间的大部分。因此，了解与危险症状识别缓慢相关的个体特征很重要。在这项研究中，62 名（38 名男性）最近被诊断出患有直肠癌的患者回答了有关症状发展以及他们在寻求帮助之前的决策和行为的问题。患者的一个亚组——在特质焦虑测量中得分最低的男性——比所有其他患者明显更长时间才认识到自己症状的严重性。这一发现是在最近的研究中提出的，其中性别和负面情绪的相互作用与症状报告和其他与健康相关的行为有关。
