OBJECTIVE: To study the clinical and demographic factors associated with delays in the diagnosis of @entity2 . @entity1 AND METHODS: A 2-year prospective study of @entity1 admitted to the respiratory medicine ward with a suspected diagnosis of @entity2 . We studied demographic factors, health care received, place of residence, and delays in carrying out diagnostic procedures. The following diagnostic time periods were defined: consultation (from first symptom to first medical visit), middle period (from first medical visit to hospital admission) and diagnostic (from hospital admission to histological diagnosis and clinical staging). RESULTS: One hundred thirteen @entity1 with a mean age of 65 years (range, 36-90), 103 @entity1 and 10 @entity1 , were studied. The most frequent symptoms leading to consultation were coughing (10.6%), hemoptysis (19.5%), @entity662 (26.5%), and @entity1353 (9.7%). First visits were to a primary care physician for 72%, to the hospital emergency room for 22%, or to a pulmonologist for 6%. Forty-four percent of the @entity1 visited the doctor 2 or 3 times. The mean SD, numbers of days for the different time periods were as follows: consultation, 30.3 60; diagnosis, 18.6 19; middle period 37.9 63. The mean total time from first symptom to diagnosis was 85.7 87 days. The middle period, the time in hospital until diagnosis, and the total time were shorter when @entity1 were referred by the primary care physician to the emergency room or were directly admitted to the hospital (P<.001). Only 25.7% of the staged @entity2 were operable. CONCLUSIONS: Delays in @entity2 diagnosis are long. The attitudes of primary care physicians and their relations with specialized care providers are crucial for reducing delays.

[Delays in the diagnosis of XXXX ].

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['women', 'patients', 'PATIENTS', 'men'] @entity2 :: ('MESH:D008175', 'Disease') :: ['lung cancers', 'lung cancer'] @entity662 :: ('MESH:D002637', 'Disease') :: ['chest pain'] @entity1353 :: ('MESH:D004417', 'Disease') :: ['shortness of breath']
@entity2 :: (MESH:D008175,Disease) :: ['lung cancer']
