title: Waiting time for treatment of women with breast cancer in Podlaskie Voivodeship (Poland) in view of place of residence. A population study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Treatment delay is a major problem of contemporary oncology. Knowing the time interval between diagnosis and initiation of treatment, together with monitoring this adverse prognostic factor, is an important element of the treatment planning process in the population and can contribute to the improvement of patients' curability.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the waiting time for first treatment of women diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001-2002 in Podlaskie Voivodeship.
  
  
  METHODS
  During 2001-2002, there were 709 cases of women with breast cancer who reported to the Voivodeship Cancer Registry in Bialystok. 659 women were diagnosed with a primary invasive breast tumour. A cohort of 499 women who were treated with a curative intent was selected from this group. The waiting time in the created cohort was calculated as the number of days between the date of the breast cancer diagnosis and date of the first treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average time between the date of diagnosis and date of the first treatment was 38 days. The median was 14 days. 28.6% of patients from the selected cohort waited longer than 28 days. The treatment of rural women was initiated faster than the treatment of urban patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Medical University of Bialystok, Poland. dominikm@umwb.edu.pl
authors.forename: Dominik
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Maślach
authors.forename: Michalina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krzyżak
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Szpak
authors.forename: Alfred
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Owoc
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bielska-Lasota
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011044:Poland; D012424:Rural Population; D013997:Time Factors; D014505:Urban Population; D014850:Waiting Lists; D055815:Young Adult