Time intervals in the care pathway to cancer diagnosis during the COVID-19 pandemic: A large retrospective study from a high-volume center.

ABSTRACT: Despite extensive research on cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic, evidence on the impact on prediagnostic time intervals is lacking. To better understand how COVID-19 changed the pathway to diagnosis of cancer, we examined the length of intervals from symptom onset to diagnosis for 13 common cancer types with known clinical stage over 1-year nonpandemic period (March 2019 to March 2020; N = 844) and three biannual COVID periods (March 2020 to September 2021; N = 1172). We analyzed the patient interval (from first symptoms to presentation to a physician), the primary care/emergency department interval (from presentation with relevant symptoms to a primary care or emergency department physician to referral to a hospital-based diagnosis center) and the hospital interval (from referral t

SUBMITTER: Bosch X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9539134 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature