The time required to diagnose and treat lung cancer in Delhi, India: an updated experience of a public referral center

Table 2 Time to presentation, diagnosis, and treatment

	Overall	Before January 2012	After January 2012	P value
Evaluation Durations^a:
Symptom Onset to Diagnostic Study (n = 755):	101 [56–168]	108 [64–189.8]	99 [55–167]	p = 0.147
Diagnostic Study to Confirmed Diagnosis (n = 908):	6 [3–8]	3 [2–6]	6 [4–9]	p < 0.0001
Symptoms Onset to Confirmed Diagnosis (n = 948):	107 [60–173]	114 [63–192]	106 [59–173]	p = 0.194
Symptom Onset to Referral with Specialist at Our Center (n = 1155)^b:	120 [75–180]	120 [75.7–210]	120 [74–180]	p = 0.130
Treatment Durations:
Diagnostic Study to Chemotherapy Initiation (n = 321)	28 [18–42]	25.5 [13.5–35.3]	28 [18–43]	p = 0.028
Confirmed Diagnosis to Chemotherapy Initiation (n = 426):	20 [11–33]	17.5 [9.5–26.8]	21 [12–35]	p = 0.018
Visit with Specialist at Our Center to Chemotherapy Initiation (n = 401):	12 [5–19]	9 [5–15.3]	12 [6–20]	p = 0.029
Overview:
Symptom Onset to Chemotherapy Initiation (n = 420)⁺:	126 [85–196.8]	144.5 [79–245]	125 [85.5–193.5]	p = 0.359
New Referrals to our Center per Month (Visits/Month)^c:	12.6 +/− 9.8	5.1 +/− 2.3	18.6 +/− 9.4	p < 0.0001

^aAll durations were expressed as median days [inter-quartile range]
^bSymptoms that were reported to extend longer than 90 days at time of first visit with a specialist were rounded to the nearest 30-day interval. Patients were excluded from analysis if the duration between symptom onset and referral to our center was greater than 365 days. +Patients were excluded if the duration between symptom onset and chemotherapy initiation was greater than 730 days
^cNew referrals per month were expressed as mean visits per month +/− standard deviation