title: Effect of care-delivery delay on the survival of Mexican women with breast cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the effect of care-delivery delays on survival among women with breast cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective analysis of 854 women attending 11 hospitals from 2007-2009 was carried out. Kaplan-Meier estimators and a Cox proportional-risk model were employed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 10.5% of cases were diagnosed in stage I. 82% of sampled women delayed care for more than 67 days between noticing a symptom and initiating treatment. The median time from receipt of results of the mammography to biopsy was 31 days (IQR 14-56). Compared with those who were in quartile I (Q1), survival was lower among those in Q3 and Q4 (HR=1.68, 95%CI 0.94-3.00; HR=1.76, 95% CI 1.04-2.98, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To increase survival, it is suggested that the time between receipt of the mammography results and diagnostic biopsy be reduced.
authors.forename: Angélica
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ángeles-Llerenas
authors.forename: Gabriela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Torres-Mejía
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lazcano-Ponce
authors.forename: Santos
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Uscanga-Sánchez
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mainero-Ratchelous
authors.forename: Juan Eugenio
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Hernández-Ávila
authors.forename: Evangelina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Morales-Carmona
authors.forename: Mauricio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hernández-Ávila
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D057210:Delayed Diagnosis; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008327:Mammography; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D061665:Time-to-Treatment