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Document Type |
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Article In Journal |
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Document Title |
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Factors Delaying the Diagnosis of Cancer in Children Factors Delaying the Diagnosis of Cancer in Children |
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Document Language |
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English |
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Abstract |
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During the period of the present study (1999¬2000), interview questionnaire including: patient's age; number of sibLings as well as his order among them; Level of education of patients' parents and the chief complaint was administered to L50 patients and their families attending pediatric oncology clinic of KAAH & OC, Jeddah, KSA. Fifty nine percent of pa-tients were younger than 5 years old and 66% were males. Seventy-three percent of patients' parents were illiterate and only 17% of them were colleague graduate. The chief complaint was fever and/or fa¬tigue in 63 patients (42%), mass in abdomen, Lump in the neck in 21% and 18.5%, respectively. Patients in¬cluded in the current study had leukemias and lym-phomas (45%), as well as soLid tumor (45%). For the purpose of the present study, delayed diagnosis means an interval of more than 3 weeks between the first appearance of symptoms or signs and the diag¬nosis. Only 41 patients (27%) were diagnosed within the first 3 weeks of onset of symptoms. The majority of our patients (73%) experienced delay in diagnosis. Physicians were the cause for the delay in diagnosis (professional delay) in 55 patients 50.5%. While pa¬tients' parents delayed the consultation with a physi¬cian in 13.9% (28 cases). Both patient and profes¬sional delay were found in 23 cases (21 %). The professional deLay was more important and for a longer mean period of delay than patient delay (7[.5% 9.6 weeks and 49.5%, 6.8 weeks, respective¬ly), These differences are statistically significant (17<0.00 L). In an attempt to identify the possible clinicopathologic characteristics that affect the delay
in diagnosis, the data of patients diagnosed with delay were compared with those diagnosed without delay. The level of education of patients' parents, the chief complaint and the type of malignancy significantly affected the time of diagnosis. Patients with leukemia and lymphomas, complaining of fever and/or fatigue and those whose parents are illiterate were diagnosed later than other groups, while patients, complaining Of mass in the abdomen and those whose parents are well educated were diagnosed earlier than the other groups (17<0.001).
Key words: Childhood cancer-Delayed diagnosis. |
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ISSN |
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1110-5607 |
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Journal Name |
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Med.1. Cairo Univ |
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Volume |
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71 |
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Issue Number |
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2 |
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Publishing Year |
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1424 AH
2003 AD |
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Article Type |
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Article |
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Added Date |
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Saturday, January 15, 2011 |
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Researchers
| محمود الاحول | AI-Ahwal, Mahmoud | Researcher | Doctorate | |
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