Accelerating diagnosis for childhood brain tumours: an analysis of the HeadSmart UK population data

Shanmugavadivel, Dhurgshaarna; Liu, Jo-Fen; Murphy, Laura; Wilne, Sophie; Walker, David

doi:10.1136/archdischild-2018-315962

Cited by 34 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…They included patients with eye movement disorders, such as diplopia or strabismus, as A recent report from "Head Smart" shows that the tumor subtypes with the longest DI ("system interval" in their paper) were craniopharyngioma (median 3.3 weeks) and optic pathway glioma (median 3.3 weeks), which often present with visual difficulties. 19 Though this trend corresponds to our results, the median DI of 8 patients…”

Section: Neuro-oncology Practicesupporting

confidence: 90%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Initial symptoms and diagnostic delay in children with brain tumors at a single institution in Japan

Yamada

Kobayashi

Terashima

et al. 2020

Neuro-Oncology Practice

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background A prolonged interval between onset of symptoms and diagnosis of childhood brain tumor is associated with worse neurological outcomes. Objectives of this study are to determine factors contributing to diagnostic delay and to find an interventional focus for further reduction in the interval between symptom onset and diagnosis in Japan. Methods We retrospectively analyzed 154 patients less than 18 years old with newly diagnosed brain tumors who visited our institution from January 2002 to March 2013. Results The median age at diagnosis was 6.2 years and the median total diagnostic interval (TDI) was 30 days. Patients with low-grade tumors and cerebral midline tumor location had significantly long TDI. Durations between the first medical consultation and diagnosis (diagnostic interval, DI) were exceedingly longer for patients with visual, hearing, or smell abnormalities as the first symptom (median 303 days). TDI and DI of patients who visited to ophthalmologists or otolaryngologist for the first medical consultation were significantly longer. Among these patient, longer DI was associated with worse visual outcome. Conclusion Raising awareness of brain tumor diagnosis among ophthalmologists and otolaryngologist may reduce diagnostic delay and may improve the neurological impairment of children with brain tumors in Japan. (197 words)

show abstract

Section: Neuro-oncology Practicesupporting

confidence: 90%

“…The median age at diagnosis in our study was similar to those in Brain Tumor Registry of Japan 18 and similar studies in Japan 12 and other Western countries. 6,11,17,19,20 The proportion of tumor types and locations were similar to the Brain Tumor Registry of Japan, including the higher frequency of germ cell tumor.…”

Section: Neuro-oncology Practicementioning

confidence: 55%

Initial symptoms and diagnostic delay in children with brain tumors at a single institution in Japan

Yamada

Kobayashi

Terashima

et al. 2020

Neuro-Oncology Practice

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We also found that the fall in incident diagnoses was specific to certain tumour types, including CNS tumours and lymphomas. These tumour types, particularly TYA lymphomas, are known to have protracted patient intervals and subsequent delays in presentation 21 30. Pandemic-related changes in health-seeking behaviour could provide an explanation to our findings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Childhood, teenage and young adult cancer diagnosis during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based observational cohort study in England

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ObjectiveTo investigate childhood, teenage and young adult cancer diagnostic pathways during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in England.DesignPopulation-based cohort study.Setting and participantsQResearch, a nationally representative primary care database, linked to hospital admission, mortality and cancer registry data, was used to identify childhood, teenage and young adult cancers (0–24 years) diagnosed between 1 January 2017 and 15 August 2020.Main outcomesMain outcomes of interest were: (1) number of incident cancer diagnoses per month, (2) diagnostic, treatment time intervals and (3) cancer-related intensive care admissions.Results2607 childhood, teenage and young adult cancers were diagnosed from 1 January 2017 to 15 August 2020; 380 were diagnosed during the pandemic period. Overall, 17% (95% CI −28.0% to −4.0%) reduction in the incidence rate ratio of cancers was observed during the pandemic. Specific decreases were seen for central nervous system tumour (−38% (95% CI −52% to −21%)) and lymphoma (−28% (95% CI −45% to −5%)) diagnoses. Additionally, childhood cancers diagnosed during the pandemic were significantly more likely to have intensive care admissions (adjusted OR 2.2 (95% CI 1.33 to 3.47)). Median time-to-diagnosis did not significantly differ across periods (+4.5 days (95% CI −20.5 to +29.5)), while median time-to-treatment was shorter during the pandemic (−0.7 days (95% CI −1.1 to −0.3)).ConclusionsCollectively, our findings of a significant reduction in cancer diagnoses and increase in intensive care admissions provide initial insight into the changes that occurred to childhood, teenage and young adult cancer diagnostic pathways during the first wave of the pandemic.

show abstract

“…The HeadSmart public and professional awareness campaign was launched in 2011 in the UK, aiming to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of brain tumours in children due to the long DIs. The campaign has been associated with a reduction in the TDI from 14.4 weeks in in 2006 to 6.5 weeks in 2015 17 18…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Childhood Cancer Diagnosis (CCD) Study: a UK observational study to describe referral pathways and quantify diagnostic intervals in children and young people with cancer

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

IntroductionChildhood cancer is diagnosed in 400 000 children and young people (CYP) aged 0–19 years worldwide annually. In the UK, a child’s cumulative cancer risk increases from 1 in 4690 from birth to aged 1, to 1 in 470 by age 15. Once diagnosed, access to treatments offers survival to adulthood for over 80%. Tumour diagnoses are at a later stage and mortality is higher when compared with those in other parts of Europe. This means higher risk, more intensive therapies for a cure. Some CYPs are known to experience delays to diagnosis which may further contribute to poor outcomes. This study aims to understand the current pathway of childhood cancer referrals and diagnosis and quantify diagnostic intervals in the UK.Methods and analysisThis is a prospective multicentre observational study including all tertiary childhood cancer treatment centres in the UK. CYP (0–18 years) with a new diagnosis of cancer over the study period will be invited to participate. Data will be collected at initial diagnosis and 5 years after diagnosis. Data will include demographic details, clinical symptoms, tumour location, stage and clinical risk group. In addition, key diagnostic dates and referral routes will be collected to calculate the diagnostic intervals. At 5 years’ follow-up, data will be collected on refractory disease, relapse and 1-year and 5-year survival. Population characteristics will be presented with descriptive analyses with further analyses stratified by age, geographical region and cancer type. Associations between diagnostic intervals/delay and risk factors will be explored using multiple regression and logistic regression.EthicsThe study has favourable opinion from the York and Humber, Leeds West REC (19/YH/0416).DisseminationResults will be presented at academic conferences, published in peer-reviewed journals and disseminated through public messaging in collaboration with our charity partners through a national awareness campaign (ChildCancerSmart).Study registrationresearchregistry.com (researchregistry5313).

show abstract

Accelerating diagnosis for childhood brain tumours: an analysis of the HeadSmart UK population data

Cited by 34 publications

References 13 publications

Initial symptoms and diagnostic delay in children with brain tumors at a single institution in Japan

Initial symptoms and diagnostic delay in children with brain tumors at a single institution in Japan

Childhood, teenage and young adult cancer diagnosis during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based observational cohort study in England

The Childhood Cancer Diagnosis (CCD) Study: a UK observational study to describe referral pathways and quantify diagnostic intervals in children and young people with cancer

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About