International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health | May 2020 | Vol 7 | Issue 5 Page 1705 International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Sharma G et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2020 May;7(5):1705-1710 http://www.ijcmph.com pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040 Original Research Article Identification of factors influencing delayed presentation of cancer patients Gargie Sharma 1 , Sweety Gupta 1 *, Amit Gupta 2 , Vasantha C. Kalyani 3 , Kusum K. Rohilla 3 , Aathira Thozhuthungal Sreejeev 1 , Yan Pothung Yanthan 1 , Utkarsh Kumar 2 , Biswajyoti Das 1 , Gaurav Sharma 1 , Amit Sehrawat 4 , Manoj Gupta 1 INTRODUCTION Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in many countries despite the advancement in cancer diagnosis and treatment. According to Globacon 2018 incidence of cancer in India is 11,57,294 annually. Also number of deaths due to cancer in India has increased from 3,82,000 in 1990 to 7,84,821 in 2018. 1 To combat this dreadful disease national cancer control programme was initiated by the government of India in 1975 to equip tertiary care cancer hospitals and institutions to implement systematic, equitable, and evidence based strategies for prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, and palliation, using available resources. Despite all these efforts most of patients presenting to our hospital are in very advanced stages. How long a cancer patient takes to present may be influenced by several factors, including the nature of the symptoms, awareness of the significance of the symptoms, perception of personal risk of cancer, and physical, social and psychological barriers to health care. Delayed presentation of symptomatic cancer is associated with poorer survival. Early presentation, timely diagnosis and treatments are critical factors in improving long-term ABSTRACT Background: Delayed presentation of patients of cancer is associated with poorer survival. Early presentation, timely diagnosis and treatment are critical factors in improving long-term survival for patients with cancer. Thus, reducing delays in diagnosis of cancer should be a priority. Against this backdrop this study was conducted to identify factors leading to delayed presentation of patients in advanced stages of cancer at our institute. Methods: Newly diagnosed patients of cancer coming to radiation oncology, surgery and medical oncology outpatient departments were included in this study. Data was collected in a pre-validated questionnaire format. Results: 360 patients were included. Majority of patients 212 (58.9%) were male. 66.7% patients were from rural areas. Most of the patient’s educational level was upto primary schooling 178 (49.4%) and caregiver educational level was upto primary schooling 153 (42.5%). Reason for alternative treatment correlated significantly with patient awareness about the disease (p<0.03). Most common reason of the time gap given by patients was symptom appraisal 258 (71.7%). Conclusions: Educational level of patients, symptom appraisal, fear of side effects of treatment and awareness about disease were main reasons for delay in presentation of cancer patients. So, education regarding warning signs of cancer and symptom appraisal are important in reducing delays in presentation. Keywords: Cancer detection, Delayed, Survival, Awareness 1 Department of Radiation Oncology, 2 Department of Surgery, 3 Nursing College, 4 Department of Medical Oncology, AIIMS Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India Received: 01 April 2020 Revised: 14 April 2020 Accepted: 15 April 2020 *Correspondence: Dr. Sweety Gupta, E-mail: drsg2411@yahoo.co.in Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20201709