Determinants of delay from cancer diagnosis to treatment initiation in a cohort of brazilian women with breast cancer

Abstract

This objective this study was to identify the time interval between breast cancer (BC) diagnosis and treatment initiation and delay-associated factors. This is a prospective cohort study that followed breast cancer patients, enrolled and treated at the cancer center in Rio de Janeiro (RJ) - Brazil, from October 02, 2014 to April 30, 2015. Participants were interviewed at the first consultation. Treatment-related information was collected six months after recruitment. The median and interquartile range (IQR) were calculated. The interval between breast cancer diagnosis and treatment initiation of more than 60 days was considered the delay, according to the maximum term determined by Brazilian law. The association between independent variables and the outcome was performed using the crude odds ratios (OR). Variables presenting p < .20 in the univariate analysis were included in the multiple logistic regression model by the stepwise forward method, and those with p < .05 were retained in the final model. A total of 470 patients were included in the study. The median time was of 127 days (IQR: 85- 174). Delay was observed in 89.1% of the cases. After adjustment, the variables associated with delay were age ≥ 60 years (OR: 2.48; 95% CI 1.22-5.06), initial clinical staging (<2B) (OR: 2.01; 95% CI 1.05-3.86) and residence outside the city of Rio de Janeiro (OR: 2.75; 95% CI 1.38-5.51). Delays in starting treatment were associated with sociodemographic and clinical factors. Improving patient quality of care and restructuring the health service can minimise delays.

Keywords: access to health services; breast neoplasms; epidemiology; health care disparities; late diagnosis; time to treatment.