The UK has stood out in a global study on attitudes towards medical care and cancer survival.
Embarrassment and not wanting to waste doctors' time have been shown as potentially increasing cancer risk among Britons when compared to other countries, King's College London and University College London have reported.
The universities' international study, published today in the British Journal of Cancer, suggests cultural factors in Britain could explain survival rate differences between the UK and other high-income countries.
Dr Lindsay Forbes, member of Promoting Early Presentation Group in King's College London and joint lead author of the study, said; "The UK stood out in this study.
"The traditional British ‘stiff upper lip' could be preventing people from seeing their doctor. We need to support people to make the right decisions about their health and increase awareness of the age-related risk."
In partnership with Cancer Research UK and Ipsos MORI, 19,079 men and women aged 50 and older were surveyed; 4,002 Australians, 2,064 Canadians, 2,000 Danes, 2,009 Norweigans, 2,039 Swedes, and 6,965 Britons.
Researchers found little difference in awareness of cancer symptoms and beliefs about cancer outcomes between the countries.
But the study showed significant differences in people's barriers to symptomatic presentation; being worried about wasting the doctor's time was particularly common in the UK for 34% and least common in Sweden for only 9%.
Embarrassment about going to the doctor with a symptom that might be serious was most commonly reported in the UK (15%) and least in Denmark (6%).
The study also found that awareness of the risk of cancer being higher in older people was lowest in Canada (13%) and the UK (14%) and highest in Sweden (38%).
Professor Jane Wardle, UCL, said it was important to understand more about how UK people interacted with their GP with potential cancer symptoms to identify ways to reduce barriers to early presentation.
Sara Hiom, director of Patient Engagement and Early Diagnosis at Cancer Research UK said: "It's encouraging to see that people in the UK know as much about cancer symptoms as people in Australia, Canada or Scandinavia, and that overall, people surveyed had generally positive beliefs about cancer outcomes.
"But the research highlights that people in the UK are more worried and embarrassed about seeing their doctor.
"Cancer Research UK and others are working hard to understand and address these potential barriers to early presentation and encourage people to tell their doctor if they have noticed something different about their body. More work also needs to be done to tackle the poor awareness that cancer risk increases with age."
The study is part of global collaboration International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership (ICBP), which previously found Denmark and the UK had lowest cancer survival rates between 1995 and 2007; for example, lung cancer survival rates were 30% compared to 44% in Sweden of those diagnosed between 2005 and 2007.
