Patient delay and associated factors among breast cancer patients

Objectives: To stratify patients into various stages, calculate average patient delay and study various causes of delay to presentation. Methodology: This was a one year hospital based cross sectional study at Khyber Teaching Hospital, using non probability consecutive sampling. A simplified staging was used for this study; Early (Stage I), Intermediate (Stage II, Ill), and Late (Stage IV). A patient was labelled "delay" when > 3 months had elapsed between first symptom perception and first doctor consultation. Results: 80 patients were included with age 2180 years (mean 45.28 +/- 13.15). 80% of the patients were married, 76.3% (n= 61/ 80) were poor with annual income of < 500 US $, 85% of patients were illiterate. The participants from Rural and Urban areas were similar (37 % vs 31%); 15% were from Afghanistan. 80% patients presented with a delay of > 3 months. Most common cause of delay was false symptom interpretation in 25.3% (n= 17) patients. Conclusion: Late clinical presentation is because of lack of health education, unawareness, misconceptions about treatment and strong belief in traditional medicine resulting in advanced disease. This is worsened by poverty and unavailability of health care services especially in rural areas. (Rawal Med J 201; 40: 445- 448).