Influence of "diagnostic delay" upon cancer survival: an analysis of five tumour sites.

Abstract

Study objective-The aim was to assess the relationship between survival, tumour stage, and the interval from first symptom to diagnosis (SDI, or duration of symptoms).Design-This was a retrospective follow up study ofa cohort ofpatients registered in the tumour registry of the Hospital del Mar (Barcelona).Setting-Hospital based tumour registry, with patients derived mainly from the City of Barcelona.Participants-1247 cases of lung, breast, stomach, colon, or rectal cancer were analysed using survival curves and Cox proportional hazards regression. Subjects (mean age 63-6 years) were followed for a median length of 12-9 months after diagnosis. At the time of diagnosis one fourth of patients had disseminated disease.Measurements

Effect of care-delivery delay on the survival of Mexican women with breast cancer

“…9 A greater delay in diagnosis could be associated with greater mortality in urinary tract, colon and breast cancers, 33,44,45 though other studies have shown no such association for breast, colorectal, lung and gastroesophageal cancers. 26,[44][45][46][47] Still other studies found elevated mortality with short diagnostic intervals for lung cancer 48,49 or high mortality with short and long diagnostic intervals for colorectal cancer (i.e., a salud pública de méxico / vol. 58…”

“…Variables that had a p<0.20 in the bivariate analysis and those considered by the literature were taken into account in the multiple analysis. 7,9,12,[24][25][26][27][28][29] The life 40.7% in stage III, and 7.4% in stage IV. The median health care times estimated in the study were the following: total time = 139 natural days (IQR=82.5-258), time from when a woman felt a symptom to when she consulted about a doctor about it = 30 natural days (IQR=6-150), time from the receipt of the suspicious mammography results to diagnostic biopsy = 31 natural days (IQR=14-56) and time from diagnostic biopsy to initiation of treatment = 37 natural days (IQR=18-63).…”

Impact of Delay on Diagnosis and Treatment of Primary Lung Cancer

“…In another study 6 out of 29 patients became clinically incurable while waiting (9). The other studies did not nd any association between advanced stage:survival and delay (6,7,11).…”

Delay in diagnosis of breast cancer in a developing country: a single centre observational study in a tertiary care hospital in North Kerala, India

“…There is a need for a screening programme to pick up breast cancers early as it has been shown that early diagnosis leads to better survival especially in breast cancer. 5,13,14 Along with this there should be decentralization in the government health infrastructure enabling easy access to surgeons and pathologists so that delay caused by reference to higher centre can be avoided.…”