Timely follow-up of positive cancer screening results: A systematic review and recommendations from the PROSPR Consortium.

ABSTRACT: Timely follow-up for positive cancer screening results remains suboptimal, and the evidence base to inform decisions on optimizing the timeliness of diagnostic testing is unclear. This systematic review evaluated published studies regarding time to follow-up after a positive screening for breast, cervical, colorectal, and lung cancers. The quality of available evidence was very low or low across cancers, with potential attenuated or reversed associations from confounding by indication in most studies. Overall, evidence suggested that the risk for poorer cancer outcomes rises with longer wait times that vary within and across cancer types, which supports performing diagnostic testing as soon as feasible after the positive result, but evidence for specific time targets is limited. Within the

SUBMITTER: Doubeni CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5980732 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature