title: Impact of delay to treatment upon survival in 1067 patients with breast-cancer.
abstract: The medical records of 1067 patients with breast cancer were reviewed to evaluate the influence of delay between first symptom and first treatment upon survival. Three delay intervals were considered: <3 months; 3-6 months and >6 months. At a follow-up of 120 months, survival analyses identified a statistically significant difference (p=0.029) favoring patients with <3 months delay in the whole cohort, and in the group of women aged 50 or older (p=0.001). No differences were found when survival according to delay was considered within each clinical stage. A Cox multivariate analysis revealed that performance status, stage, age and menopausal status were significant predictors of survival for the whole group of patients. However, delay was an independent prognostic factor in patients with age greater-than-or-equal-to 50. In summary, 38/1067 patients (3.1%) could have been adversely affected by a >3 months delay between first symptom and first treatment. Better survival rate for patients with a short delay would obey to a greater number of patients in favorable stages and a higher proportion of women aged 50 or older in this group.
authors.affiliation: INST ANGEL H ROFFO,RA-1417 BUENOS AIRES,ARGENTINA. CLIN INDEPENDENCIA,RA-1605 MUNRO,BUENOS AIRES,ARGENTINA. UNIV SALVADOR,CATEDRA ONCOL,RA-1425 BUENOS AIRES,ARGENTINA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rabinovich
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vallejo
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Perez
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cuevas
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Machiavelli
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lacava
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Leone
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Romero
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mickiewicz
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chacon
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Estevez