Table 4.

Univariate and Multivariable analyses of the association of treatment delay intervals with cancer-specific survival (CSS)

Cancer	Subgroupd	Model 1		Model 2a
		HRb (95% CI)	P	HR (95% CI)	P
NSCLC
Stage I	Intermediate	1.47 (1.32–1.63)	< 0.001	0.98 (0.88–1.10)	0.793
	Long	2.03 (1.78–2.33)	< 0.001	1.04 (0.90–1.20)	0.575
Stage II	Intermediate	1.17 (1.04–1.32)	0.011	0.96 (0.85–1.09)	0.525
	Long	1.32 (1.12–1.56)	0.001	0.91 (0.77–1.08)	0.292
IBC
Stage I	Intermediate	0.86 (0.77–0.95)	0.004	0.88 (0.79–0.98)	0.018
	Long	0.97 (0.82–1.21)	0.798	0.96 (0.77–1.20)	0.729
Stage II	Intermediate	0.81 (0.76–0.86)	< 0.001	0.91 (0.85–0.96)	0.002
	Long	0.96 (0.86–1.08)	0.546	1.02 (0.91–1.15)	0.703
DTC
Stage I	Intermediate	1.21 (0.36–4.00)	0.759	1.10 (0.28–4.33)	0.890
	Long	1.56 (0.19–12.54)	0.676	1.28 (0.14–11.22)	0.820
Stage II	Intermediate	0.03 (0.00–174.28)	0.420	0.03 (0.00–19.91)	0.293
	Long	0.03 (0.00–2.17 × 106)	0.698	0.10 (0.00–1.19 × 107)	0.664
Colorectal cancer
Stage I	Intermediate	1.30 (1.07–1.56)	0.006	0.87 (0.71–1.07)	0.192
	Long	2.50 (1.70–3.67)	< 0.001	1.13 (0.75–1.71)	0.555
Stage II	Intermediate	0.71 (0.64–0.78)	< 0.001	0.64 (0.57–0.71)	< 0.001
	Long	1.26 (0.99–1.61)	0.059	0.67 (0.51–0.86)	0.002
Cervical cancer
Stage I	Intermediate	2.20 (1.75–2.77)	< 0.001	1.31 (1.02–1.68)	0.032
	Long	2.30 (1.61–3.30)	< 0.001	1.25 (0.85–1.82)	0.255
Stage II	Intermediate	1.10 (0.86–1.40)	0.451	1.01 (0.78–1.32)	0.918
	Long	1.18 (0.83–1.68)	0.345	1.09 (0.75–1.57)	0.649

HR hazard ratio, CI confidence interval, NSCLC non-small cell lung cancer, IBC infiltrating breast cancer, DTC differentiated thyroid carcinoma

^aModel 2 was adjusted by the age, race, tumor location (exception of DTC, cervical cancer), differentiated grade; histology (exception of colorectal cancer), T stage, N stage (exception of NSCLC in stage I, DTC in stage II, colorectal cancer), surgery (exception of DTC), radiotherapy, chemotherapy (exception of DTC), marital status, income, and molecular subtype (only for breast cancer)

^bHR: compared with immediate treatment initiation

^cCervical cancer: FIGO stage

^dSubgroup: immediate: < 1 month, intermediate delayed: ≥ 1 and ≤ 2 months, and long-delayed: ≥ 3 months

Bold values indicate statistical significance (p < 0.05)