Table 3. Characteristics of patients by diagnostic interval ¹ , symptom category and cancer site.
| Cancer site / Diagnostic interval | All Patients | Alert symptoms | Non-alert symptoms | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freq. | % | Freq. | % | Freq. | % | |
| Breast | ||||||
| < 1 week | 1,550 | 17.9 | 1,516 | 18.6 | 34 | 7.0 |
| 1–2 weeks | 3,013 | 34.9 | 2,957 | 36.3 | 56 | 11.5 |
| 3–4 weeks | 1,862 | 21.6 | 1,783 | 21.9 | 79 | 16.2 |
| > 1 month | 2,214 | 25.6 | 1,894 | 23.2 | 320 | 65.4 |
| Median 2 (IQR ³ ) | 14 (9–31) | 14 (9–29) | 55 (21–175) | |||
| Colorectal | ||||||
| <1 month | 1,661 | 28.1 | 796 | 36.5 | 865 | 23.2 |
| 1–2 months | 1,156 | 19.6 | 510 | 23.4 | 646 | 17.3 |
| 3–6 months | 1,904 | 32.2 | 650 | 29.8 | 1,254 | 33.6 |
| >6 months | 1,191 | 20.1 | 222 | 10.2 | 969 | 26.0 |
| Median 2 (IQR ³ ) | 67 (27–147) | 45 (20–95) | 84 (34–186) | |||
| Lung | ||||||
| <1 month | 1,304 | 22.7 | 236 | 44.3 | 1,068 | 20.5 |
| 1–2 months | 1,020 | 17.8 | 121 | 22.7 | 899 | 17.3 |
| 3–6 months | 1,707 | 29.8 | 122 | 22.9 | 1,585 | 30.5 |
| >6 months | 1,706 | 29.7 | 54 | 10.1 | 1,652 | 31.7 |
| Median 2 (IQR ³ ) | 88 (34–210) | 35 (17–78) | 99 (38–222) | |||
| Prostate | ||||||
| <1 month | 374 | 21.2 | 113 | 31.7 | 261 | 18.6 |
| 1–2 months | 427 | 24.2 | 101 | 28.3 | 326 | 23.2 |
| 3–6 months | 649 | 36.8 | 101 | 28.3 | 548 | 39.0 |
| >6 months | 313 | 17.8 | 42 | 11.8 | 271 | 19.3 |
| Median 2 (IQR ³ ) | 71 (35–145) | 48 (24–111) | 76 (37–151) | |||
¹time between first symptom presentation in primary care and diagnosis
²number of days
³IQR: Interquartile range