542P Factors related to the delay of medical treatment of Indonesian cancer patients

Abstract

Background: Delay of medical treatment in cancer patients causes decrease in survival rates, increase in morbidity and mortality rate, and the occurence of metastasis. There are several studies which have reported factors related to delay of medical treatment in cancer patients. But there is limited data regarding those factors in Indonesia. The aim of this study is to identify factors affecting treatment delay (TD) in Indonesian cancer patients. Methods: Adult solid tumor patients were enrolled in this observational cross-sectional study. Baseline characteristics of patients such as age, sex, level of education, income, travel time to hospital, family history of cancer, cancer screening history, visit to alternative medicine, and types of cancer were evaluated. Presence of denial to cancer diagnosis was evaluated as the cause of treatment delay. We used Mental Adjustment to Cancer Scale questionnaire to evaluate those problems. Patients were classified as treatment delayed if the time from diagnosis to first medical treatment was more than 1 month. Results: There were 61 cancer patients enrolled with median of age of 50 (19-75) years. Mostly, the level of education was primary school, 31.1%. Predominantly, the sex was female, 90.2%. Mainly, the income was 2.5-5 million Indonesian Rupiahs, 41.0%. Mostly, travel time to hospital was less than 2 hours, 96.7%. Family history of cancer was 24.6%. Cancer screening history was 8.2%, p value 0.044. Visit to alternative medicine was 32.8%. Mainly, the type of cancer was breast cancer, 80.3%. Mostly, the patients care about their cancer, 42.6%, p value 0.045. Median delay time was 29 days. Factors significantly affecting treatment delay were previous cancer screening history and patients' attitude to their cancer. The other factors were not statistically significant. Conclusions: Factors significantly affecting treatment d.