Delay in Diagnosis of Stomach Cancer patients attending a Tertiary Care Hospital in Kashmir: a Hospital Based Cross Sectional Study

Introduction: The incidence of cancer is increasing throughout the world. However, early detection of cancers is associated with a favourable outcome. Stomach cancer is one of the most common cancers of gastrointestinal tract. Majority patients visit physicians in developed stages. Objective: To evaluate the reporting pattern of stomach cancer patients living in Kashmir valley in order to determine the median time of delay from the beginning of symptoms to diagnosis. Method: Total 116 proven stomach cancer patients were evaluated for the pattern of presentation at endoscopy laboratory of Super Speciality Hospital, Shireen Bagh Kashmir from April 2019 to September 2020.Results: In this study, the mean age (SD) of participants was 60.22 ± (11.90) years. Majority of the participants (69.8%) were males. Cases were predominantly from the rural area (58%).Only 15.5 % of the cases were diagnosed within one month of their symptoms while as 3.4% of the cases had a total delay of more than 12 months. The study found a considerable total delay in the diagnosis of stomach cancer. The mean of the patient delay was 45.6 days. The median total delay was 20 weeks. Conclusion: Since stomach cancer has high mortality and morbidity rates associated, creating awareness among the population and training of physicians regarding timely referral of patients seems important.