Document Type : Research Articles
Authors
1
Departmen of Community Health Nursing, KIMS College of Nursing, (Affiliated to Kerala University of Health Sciences), Korani, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
2
Govt. College of Nursing, (Affiliated to Kerala University of Health Sciences), Departmen of Community Health Nursing, Thiruvananthapuram - 695 011, Kerala, India.
3
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Govt. Medical College (Affiliated to Kerala University of Health Sciences), Thiruvananthapuram, India.
4
Govt. College of Nursing, (Affiliated to Kerala University of Health Sciences), Departmen of Medical Surgical Nursing, Thrissur- 680 596, Kerala, India.
Abstract
Objective: The aim of the study was to estimate the delay in seeking treatment among women with carcinoma of breast and determine the factors associated with delay. Methods: This was a hospital-based cross-sectional survey among 330 women attending the radiotherapy department of a tertiary care center in South India. Socio-clinical variables, duration of delay and reasons for the delay were collected by semi-structured interviews. Patient delay was assessed in categories of appraisal and illness time and system delay in diagnosis and treatment time. The probability of associated factors for the delay was estimated by logistic regression analysis. Results: The mean age of the patients was 54.7 yrs. 86.8% of participants had delays in seeking treatment. 33.5% had a presentation/patient-related delay with three months cut-off and 12.4% had a system delay with a one-month cut-off. In multivariate analysis, history of previous breast lump OR= 2.69 (95% CI 1.06-6.83), knowledge regarding breast cancer OR=3.96 (95% CI 1.37-11.42), referral hospital OR=4.91 (95% CI 1.66-14.57), type of medical doctor visited first OR=4.43(95% CI 2.06-9.53) and appraisal time OR=2.01(95% CI 1.06- 3.81) were statistically significant. Conclusion: Patient delay is significant and there are preventable factors contributing to the delay in seeking treatment for breast cancer.
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