| Autor: |
Pettit T; 1Children's Hematology Oncology Centre, Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand., Sue L; 2South Island Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Service, Canterbury District Health Board, Christchurch, New Zealand., Waugh V; 3South Island Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Service, Southern District Health Board, Dunedin, New Zealand., Ballantine K; 1Children's Hematology Oncology Centre, Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand.; 4Children's Haematology Oncology Centre, Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand., Gardner K; 5Department of Medical Oncology, Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand., Bremer L; 6Department of Medical Oncology and Dunedin Hospital, Dunedin, New Zealand., Pemberton L; 7Department of Haematology, Dunedin Hospital, Dunedin, New Zealand., Allison L; 8Division of Health Sciences, Otago Medical School, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand., Adams S; 8Division of Health Sciences, Otago Medical School, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand., Chou E; 8Division of Health Sciences, Otago Medical School, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand., Spearing R; 9Department of Haematology, Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand. |
| Abstrakt: |
Purpose: Delays in diagnosis and treatment are regularly discussed as potential poor prognostic factors for adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer patients. We aimed to determine whether AYA cancer patients (15-24 years of age) in the South Island of New Zealand had longer times to diagnosis and treatment than pediatric (<15 years) and adult patients (>24 years) with the same diagnosis. Methods: A retrospective review of medical records was undertaken for 201 recently diagnosed sarcoma, Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) patients in the South Island. An age stratified analysis was undertaken with a number of intervals related to the time to diagnosis (TTD) and total interval (TI) being determined. Results: Overall, the AYA group's TTD and TI was longer than the pediatric group, but shorter than the adult group. No age-based differences in patient interval (PI) were identified. AYA and adult sarcoma patients had longer TTD and TI than pediatric sarcoma. AYA and pediatric NHL patients had a shorter TTD and TI than adult NHL. No significant age-related interval differences were found in the HL group. Conclusions: AYA patients had a longer TTD and TI when compared with the pediatric group, but not when compared with the adult group. The impact of established AYA barriers to presentation are questioned, given no age-based differences in PI were found. The influence of tumor biology and cancer service delivery is an important consideration. Improved applicability of this type of research will be enabled by international collaboration. |
