Diagnostic delay among symptomatic breast cancer patients: a study in Sudanese women

Background: Early diagnosis of breast cancer is essential for effective treatment and improved survival rates. A longer gap between the appearance of symptoms and the initiation of therapy results in advanced disease and lower survival.Objectives: to assess factors associated with diagnosis delay among Sudanese women with breast cancer.

Methods: A prospective, descriptive cross-sectional study conducted at Radiation and Isotope Centre of Khartoum (RICK) in Khartoum, Sudan. Relationship between the independent variables and the main outcome of the study was determined by multivariate regression analysis.

Results: A total number of 149 women participated in the study. A total of 58.4% of patients delayed seeking medical advice for more than three months after noticing symptoms. The delay was associated with patient's area of residence and age. Women coming from outside Khartoum had a higher odd of having delayed diagnosis of breast cancer (AOR = 3.283, 95% CI: 1.113 9.687, p = .031). Likewise, older age was another predictor of delayed diagnosis of breast cancer among the study participants (AOR = 101.664, 95% CI: 4.839-2135.883, p = .003).

Conclusions: The present study showed that more than half of the women who participated had experienced delays in seeking medical attention for their breast cancer symptoms. This finding highlighted the impact of limited access to healthcare services as a contributing factor to such delays. These findings show the need for collaborative approaches to address the challenges surrounding breast cancer in Sudan.