People diagnosed with cancer in Sweden rely heavily on primary care in the years after their diagnosis, yet only about half of them describe their post-diagnosis contacts with primary care as satisfactory, according to a new cross-sectional survey study published in BMC Primary Care. The research, led by Lars Garpenhag and colleagues, set out to describe how people with cancer use primary care services and what factors are linked to how satisfied they are with those contacts.
The survey covered people diagnosed with breast, prostate, lung, or colorectal cancer either one to two years or five to six years before the survey. Participants answered a digital questionnaire about their primary care utilization and their satisfaction with post-diagnosis contacts. The researchers used t-tests and chi-square tests to detect differences between groups, and logistic regression to identify associations between satisfaction and patient, disease, and caregiver characteristics.
The results show that almost all participants had been in contact with primary care since their cancer diagnosis. A majority had been in contact for cancer-related reasons, although most of those contacts concerned routine matters rather than urgent problems.
Satisfaction with post-diagnosis primary care contacts was far from universal. Around half of the participants rated their contacts as satisfactory, while 8% rated them as dissatisfactory. Importantly, these overall figures masked considerable variation between subgroups, meaning that experiences differed substantially depending on patient and disease characteristics.
The regression analysis identified several factors associated with satisfaction. Having a regular physician in primary care was positively associated with satisfaction, as was being actively handed over to primary care after treatment. On the other hand, satisfaction was negatively associated with problem-induced cancer-related primary care contacts, with an absence of cancer-related contacts, and with a higher number of comorbidities. In other words, people who ended up contacting primary care because of problems, those with no cancer-related contacts at all, and those living with multiple additional conditions tended to rate their care less favorably.
One notable finding was that differences based on time since diagnosis were small overall. People surveyed one to two years after diagnosis reported utilization and satisfaction patterns broadly similar to those surveyed five to six years after diagnosis, suggesting that the need for primary care and the experience of it persist well beyond the immediate treatment period.
The authors conclude that most people utilize primary care after a cancer diagnosis, including for cancer-related reasons, and that many are satisfied with their contacts. However, satisfaction varies between subgroups and is associated with factors related to patients’ health, the nature of the contacts, and their relationship to primary care providers. The study’s authors note that primary care services are important for meeting the complex needs of people living with or having survived cancer, and that there has been a need for improved knowledge about how this patient group uses and experiences primary care.
As a cross-sectional survey, the study captures utilization and satisfaction at a single point in time and relies on self-reported data from people with four cancer types in Sweden, so the findings describe associations rather than causal effects. The authors state that the study was designed to describe utilization at one to two and five to six years after diagnosis, assess satisfaction with post-diagnosis contacts, and identify the characteristics and utilization patterns associated with satisfaction, which the reported results address. The open-access article was published on 26 October 2026.
Subject of Research: Primary care utilization and satisfaction among people with cancer in Sweden
Article Title: Primary care utilization and satisfaction among people with cancer in Sweden: a cross-sectional survey study
Article References: Garpenhag, L., Borg, S., Rosell, L., Larsson, A.-M., & Calling, S. (2026). Primary care utilization and satisfaction among people with cancer in Sweden: a cross-sectional survey study. BMC Primary Care. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-026-03623-9
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1186/s12875-026-03623-9
Keywords: primary care, cancer survivors, Sweden, cross-sectional survey, patient satisfaction, health services research, breast cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, care handover, comorbidities
News Source: Nathaniel Bowman. (October 28, 2026). Most Swedish cancer survivors use primary care, but satisfaction varies widely between groups. Scienmag.
