Study of Aetiological Factors in Delay of Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment

Abstract

Introduction: Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. One of the most important factors responsible for this high mortality rate in cancer patient is delay in presentation. Already, numerous factors of such delays have been attributed in previous studies. We have little research-based data regarding these issues. Objective: To assess the factors associated with delay in cancer diagnosis and treatment. Methods and Materials: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Radiotherapy, Sher-E-Bangla Medical College Hospital, Barishal, Bangladesh from March 2022 to July 2023. In total 32 diagnosed cancer patients with delay time ≥ 3 months, willing to participate were enrolled by purposive sampling technique. Data analysis was done by using the MS Office program. Results: In analyzing the causative factors, we observed that in 69%, 63% and 50% of patients, the causes were financial, lack of knowledge and use of alternative medicine respectively which was alarming. On the other hand, in 41%, 31%, 22%, 16% and 6% of cases, causes were misdiagnosis, fear or psychological, non-cooperative family, no medical facility and conveyance problem respectively which was also noticeable. Females had 7.5 times higher odds of delay and literate individuals had 0.7 times lower odds of delay. Conclusion: Most common causative factors for the various types of delays in the management of cancer patients are ‘financial inabilities’, ‘lack of knowledge’ and the ‘tendencies of using alternative medicine’. The delay could also be associated with being female and having lower levels of literacy.