Factors Associated with Delay in CA Breast Diagnosis in Mayo Hospital, Lahore

Abstract

Objective: This study was designed to determine the frequency and factors responsible for delayed diagnosis of breast cancer at tertiary care hospital, Lahore.
Material and Method: This was a cross-sectional study with non-probability purposive sampling conducted at the Oncology department of tertiary care hospital, Lahore, among 200 adult women (>18 years) with confirmed breast cancer through biopsy technique. Data was gathered through a pre-tested questionnaire and analyzed using the SPSS version 23, p-value <0.05 was taken as significant.
Results: Delay can be categorized into two broad categories, i.e. delay in consultation (patient delay) and diagnosis delay (system delay).Only seven patients reported in time. Patient delay was observed in 12(6.2%) cases, system delay was reported by 4(2.1%) patients and combined delay (patient and system) was 177(91.7%). The most frequent reasons for the delay in a patient's diagnosis were embarrassment to conduct a breast examination (74%) and lack of information (73%). Other factors included: not interested in treatment (59%), financial limitations (53.5%), competing life priorities (48%), fear of cancer diagnosis/treatment (45%), fear
of cancer (45%), appointment delay (20%), fear of medication (10%) and false negative diagnostic test (2.5%). Financial limitations, competing life priorities, no interest in treatment, skin changes, and family history of Breast cancer were significantly related to delays.
Conclusion: Delayed presentation was observed in 193 (96.5%) of patients, which is quite high. Health education sessions and health system improvement are required to address significant factors