Deciphering the causes of advanced-stage disease at diagnosis among breast cancer patients who attended a suburban hospital in Buenos Aires.

Introduction: Breast cancer is still one of the main causes of cancer mortality in women worldwide, and death rates are even greater in vulnerable populations. A delay in diagnosis usually comes with advanced-stage disease, which impacts patient survival. The aim of this study was to evaluate the time for first medical consultation among women with breast cancer attending the Magdalena V. de Martínez Hospital and to determine the causes that may influence patient delay and its impact on cancer stage at diagnosis.

Materials and methods: Three hundred and six breast cancer patients were interviewed using a self-report questionnaire, and socioeconomic and demographic variables, namely, highest education level completed, employment status and breast cancer awareness, were collected. The answers were associated with patient clinical records, such as clinical staging and tumor size.

Results: Forty-nine percent of the patients were diagnosed with advanced-stage disease. These women had either a deficiency in breast cancer awareness, did not visit a gynecologist after age 40 or, were unemployed, while those patients diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer had nonpalpable tumors, declared a sufficient household income or delayed less than four weeks in seeking medical attention. Moreover, the delay in the first medical visit was more than one month in 78% of the patients, being disregard the most common cause of postponement. Additionally, patient delays were associated with larger tumors and with incomplete education.

Discussion: These results indicate that early detection efforts should be made to reduce the disease stage at diagnosis, which may impact on overall survival.