Patient delay in seeking help for potential breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Patient delay in seeking medical attention could be a contributing cause in a substantial number of breast cancer deaths. The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with long delay in order to identify specific groups in need of more intensive education regarding the signs of breast cancer and the importance of early treatment.
METHODS: A study of 162 women with potential breast cancer symptoms was done in the area of Worcester, MA. Two methods of analysis were used. A case-control approach was used where the outcome variable was categorized into two groups of longer and shorter delay, and a survival analysis was used where the outcome variable was treated as a continuous variable.
RESULTS: It was found that women with increasing symptoms were more likely to delay than women whose symptoms either decreased or remained the same. Women performing monthly breast self-examination and/or receiving at least bi-annual mammograms were much less likely to delay than women who performed breast self-examination or received mammograms less often. It was also found that women using family practitioners were less likely to delay than women using other types of physicians.
CONCLUSIONS: Patient delay continues to be a major problem in breast cancer, as 16% of the women here delayed at least two months before seeking help. This study presented a new and improved method for defining patient delay, which should be explored further in larger studies.