Delays in the diagnosis of lung cancer patients in Poland

Abstract

Introduction. Lung cancer is the most common cause of death from malignant tumors in the world, with more than 2 million patients diagnosed every year. The most common symptoms of lung cancer are cough and shortness of breath. However, they appear late when the cancer is at an advanced stage. The standard measure of the correct diagnostic path in cancer patients is the time from the first symptoms of the disease to the final diagnosis. The aim of the study is to identify reasons for late diagnosis of patients with symptoms of lung cancer in Poland. Material and methods. We performed an analysis of a survey conducted among 149 patients with lung cancer from the Department of Pneumonology, Oncology and Allergology at the Medical University of Lublin. The SPSS software was used to perform the analysis of these data. Males accounted for 56.4% of the patients, and the median age of the patients was 66.8 ± 7.2 years. The mean time from the first symptoms to the first appointment with a doctor was 5.3 weeks and from the first symptoms to diagnosis was 14.7 weeks. Results. The time from the onset of symptoms and treatment initiation was significantly (p = 0.04) longer in patients living at a greater distance from cancer centers (24.1 weeks) than in patients living nearby (18.3 weeks). In patients who were treated with antibiotics before diagnosis, the time from the onset of the symptoms to the start of treatment was significantly longer (p = 0.003) than in patients who did not use antibiotics (26.8 weeks vs. 18.1 weeks). Conclusions. The results of our study showed that Polish patients with suspected lung cancer are diagnosed too late, which has an impact on the stage at which the tumor is diagnosed.