Comber H, Cronin D P, Deady S, Lorcain P O, Riordan P
National Cancer Registry, Elm Court, Cork.
Ir Med J. 2005 Sep;98(8):238-9.
This study describes waiting times for cancer treatment in Ireland, tests for differences between health board areas and investigates if delay affected cancer stage or prognosis. We measured the times between referral, outpatient attendance and treatment for all patients diagnosed with five common cancers in Ireland in 1999. There was a four-fold spread of waiting time between the 25th and 75th centile. The time from referral to treatment was shortest for breast cancer (median 4 weeks), twice this for colorectal cancer, lung cancer and lymphoma, and 15 weeks for prostate cancer. Delays varied significantly, but not consistently, between health boards. Patients with longer waiting times generally had less advanced disease and better survival, suggesting that typical delays are not of clinical significance, but that patients with advanced disease are probably being "fast-tracked" by GPs and hospitals.
本研究描述了爱尔兰癌症治疗的等待时间，检测了各健康委员会区域之间的差异，并调查了延误是否影响癌症分期或预后。我们测量了1999年爱尔兰所有被诊断患有五种常见癌症的患者从转诊到门诊就诊及治疗的时间。第25百分位数和第75百分位数之间的等待时间相差四倍。从转诊到治疗的时间，乳腺癌最短（中位数为4周），结直肠癌、肺癌和淋巴瘤为其两倍，前列腺癌为15周。各健康委员会之间的延误差异显著，但并不一致。等待时间较长的患者通常疾病进展程度较低，生存率较高，这表明典型的延误并无临床意义，但患有晚期疾病的患者可能被全科医生和医院“优先安排”了。
