A new study finds that one-third of Ontario cancer patients have visited the emergency department at least once within 90 days before diagnosis, and are more likely to have certain types of cancer, be older, and live in rural and underserved areas. appeared.
A new study shows that one-third of Ontario cancer patients have visited the emergency room at least once within 90 days before diagnosis, and are more likely to have certain types of cancer, be older, and live in rural and underserved areas. appeared. Reuters
In the study, a large team of researchers led by lead author Kirat Grewal, an emergency room physician at Mount Sinai Hospital’s Schwarz/Riceman Institute of Emergency Medicine, looked at 651,071 people aged 18 years or older in Ontario who had been diagnosed with cancer over a seven-year period.
Thirty-five percent had gone to the emergency room at least once in the 90 days before their diagnosis, and half of them had to be admitted to the hospital. According to a study released on the 4th, there was a high possibility that it was related to cancer that was not diagnosed at the time, and it was most likely brain cancer, pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, gallbladder cancer, or chest cancer.
Studies have shown that cancers of the nervous system are more likely to result in emergency room visits prior to diagnosis because symptoms often include weakness, confusion, and seizures.
“Future research is needed on ways to diagnose this type of cancer early,” the researchers said. They also found that patients with other cancers were more likely to use the emergency room before diagnosis than patients with breast cancer, they added.
This may be a result of increased access to breast cancer screening, meaning cancer is detected earlier before symptoms become urgent.
Additionally, patients from underserved communities and ethnic minority groups were more likely to visit the emergency department prior to diagnosis. People living in rural and northern Ontario also had higher odds.
The researchers concluded that a combination of factors is likely responsible for greater use of emergency rooms by underserved groups and older adults, with systemic issues such as access to primary care, specialists, and outpatient diagnostics increasing the likelihood of an emergency room visit prior to a cancer diagnosis. He said that it may be partly due to the high level.
According to the researchers, this points to inequalities in the health care system.
Earlier this year, Dr. Grewal said a family crisis that left one in five Canadians unable to receive regular primary care was likely to be responsible for the trend in emergency room cancer diagnoses. According to the Ontario College of Family Physicians, there are an estimated 2.3 million people in Ontario without a family doctor, and this number is expected to increase to 4.4 million by 2026.
