Primary Care Referral Delays in Oral Cancer Diagnosis: A Meta-Analysis.

IF 2.9 3区医学 Q1 DENTISTRY, ORAL SURGERY & MEDICINE

Oral diseases Pub Date : 2024-12-10 DOI:10.1111/odi.15218

Juan Manuel Seoane Romero, Narmeen Mallah, Pablo Ignacio Varela-Centelles, Saman Warnakulasuriya, Bahi Takkouche

{"title":"Primary Care Referral Delays in Oral Cancer Diagnosis: A Meta-Analysis.","authors":"Juan Manuel Seoane Romero, Narmeen Mallah, Pablo Ignacio Varela-Centelles, Saman Warnakulasuriya, Bahi Takkouche","doi":"10.1111/odi.15218","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Objective: To measure the primary care interval (PCI) in the diagnostic delay of oral cancer and to assess the relation of the referring physician's specialty with disease stage at diagnosis.Methods: We meta-analyzed reports of oral/oropharyngeal carcinomas detailing PCI start- and endpoints, i.e., the time needed by a primary care physician to refer a suspected oral cancer patient to a specialist.Results: 17 studies with a total of 2530 patients were eligible; nine provided data on the relative length of PCI, and 10 reported on the impact of the referring professional's specialty on oral cancer diagnostic delay. The average PCI length was slightly longer for general practitioners (GPs) (30.5 days) than for general dental practitioners (GDPs) (27.6 days), while that for the total group was 28.7 days. One-third of the total pre-hospital time spent on diagnosis elapses in GP practices (PCI%: 0.31 [95% CI: 0.23, 0.40]). GDPs refer their patients for treatment at earlier disease stages (TNM I-II) than GPs (Odds Ratio: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.34-0.98).Conclusions: Primary care accounts for a considerable pre-hospital amount of time of what is necessary for reaching a diagnosis of oral cancer patients. This calls for enhancing early oral cancer recognition in primary care settings.","PeriodicalId":19615,"journal":{"name":"Oral diseases","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Oral diseases","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/odi.15218","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"DENTISTRY, ORAL SURGERY & MEDICINE","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objective: To measure the primary care interval (PCI) in the diagnostic delay of oral cancer and to assess the relation of the referring physician's specialty with disease stage at diagnosis.

Methods: We meta-analyzed reports of oral/oropharyngeal carcinomas detailing PCI start- and endpoints, i.e., the time needed by a primary care physician to refer a suspected oral cancer patient to a specialist.

Results: 17 studies with a total of 2530 patients were eligible; nine provided data on the relative length of PCI, and 10 reported on the impact of the referring professional's specialty on oral cancer diagnostic delay. The average PCI length was slightly longer for general practitioners (GPs) (30.5 days) than for general dental practitioners (GDPs) (27.6 days), while that for the total group was 28.7 days. One-third of the total pre-hospital time spent on diagnosis elapses in GP practices (PCI%: 0.31 [95% CI: 0.23, 0.40]). GDPs refer their patients for treatment at earlier disease stages (TNM I-II) than GPs (Odds Ratio: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.34-0.98).

Conclusions: Primary care accounts for a considerable pre-hospital amount of time of what is necessary for reaching a diagnosis of oral cancer patients. This calls for enhancing early oral cancer recognition in primary care settings.

查看原文本刊更多论文

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Oral diseases 医学-牙科与口腔外科

CiteScore

7.60

自引率

5.30%

发文量

325

审稿时长

4-8 weeks

期刊介绍： Oral Diseases is a multidisciplinary and international journal with a focus on head and neck disorders, edited by leaders in the field, Professor Giovanni Lodi (Editor-in-Chief, Milan, Italy), Professor Stefano Petti (Deputy Editor, Rome, Italy) and Associate Professor Gulshan Sunavala-Dossabhoy (Deputy Editor, Shreveport, LA, USA). The journal is pre-eminent in oral medicine. Oral Diseases specifically strives to link often-isolated areas of dentistry and medicine through broad-based scholarship that includes well-designed and controlled clinical research, analytical epidemiology, and the translation of basic science in pre-clinical studies. The journal typically publishes articles relevant to many related medical specialties including especially dermatology, gastroenterology, hematology, immunology, infectious diseases, neuropsychiatry, oncology and otolaryngology. The essential requirement is that all submitted research is hypothesis-driven, with significant positive and negative results both welcomed. Equal publication emphasis is placed on etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, prevention and treatment.