Time to Diagnosis and Treatment of Childhood Cancer

Outcome of childhood cancer in low middle-income countries continues to be poor. One of the proposed reasons for this poor outcome is increased time spent in diagnosis and initiation of treatment. The present study was done to quantify the magnitude and types of time intervals in management of childhood cancer. Parents of 111 children with newly diagnosed cancer were interviewed. Median total time interval for entire cohort was 58 d. The most important contributor to this total interval was Referral interval. Gender and use of alternative medicine significantly affected the total interval. Increased primary care physician sensitization for quicker referral to specialized centers may mitigate the delay and improve outcome.