Time to initial cancer treatment in the United States and association with survival over time: An observational study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Delays in time to treatment initiation (TTI) for new cancer diagnoses cause patient distress and may adversely affect outcomes. We investigated trends in TTI for common solid tumors treated with curative intent, determinants of increased TTI and association with overall survival.

Methods and findings

We utilized prospective data from the National Cancer Database for newly diagnosed United States patients with early-stage breast, prostate, lung, colorectal, renal and pancreas cancers from 2004-13. TTI was defined as days from diagnosis to first treatment (surgery, systemic or radiation therapy). Negative binomial regression and Cox proportional hazard models were used for analysis. The study population of 3,672,561 patients included breast (N = 1,368,024), prostate

SUBMITTER: Khorana AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6396925 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature