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Table 2 The median secondary care interval (days) before and after urgent referral for suspected cancer

From: Secondary care intervals before and after the introduction of urgent referral guidelines for suspected cancer in Denmark: a comparative before-after study

 

Other hospitals

Vejle hospital

Before urgent referral n = 3,131

After urgent referral n = 2,612

 

Before urgent referral n = 387

After urgent referral n = 388

 

Median (IQI)

Median (IQI)

p-value

Median (IQI)

Median (IQI)

p-value

All

42 (22; 80)

35 (18; 67)

<0.001

30 (20; 50)

26 (15; 51)

0.020

Sex

      

Male

46 (23; 90)

40 (20; 80)

<0.001

32 (20; 63)

29 (17; 68)

0.362

Female

39 (21; 69)

32 (16; 57)

<0.001

29 (20; 45)

26 (15; 48)

0.036

Age (years)

      

18-49

41 (21; 73)

29 (15; 61)

0.003

35 (18; 61)

25 (14; 39)

0.132

50-69

53 (30; 98)

45 (22; 81)

<0.001

29 (20; 43)

26 (17; 50)

0.408

70+

41 (21; 77)

36 (18; 68)

<0.001

33 (22; 56)

27 (15; 52)

0.062

Cancer diagnosis

      

Breast

33 (21; 56)

23 (15; 38)

<0.001

28 (20; 40)

21 (13; 33)

<0.001

Lung

37 (21;64)

33 (16; 53)

0.008

31 (20; 41)

29 (23; 65)

0.392

Colorectal

38 (22; 71)

30 (18; 53)

<0.001

32 (23; 46)

26 (18; 37)

0.068

Head and neck*

39 (22; 64)

37 (17; 66)

0.443

   

Prostate*

72 (37; 141)

67 (31; 104)

0.028

   

Other

42 (19; 80)

40 (18; 76)

0.358

30 (17; 64)

31 (16; 70)

0.842

Alarm symptoms

      

Yes

38 (21; 70)

33 (16; 58)

<0.001

32 (22; 49)

27 (18; 44)

0.025

No

49 (26; 96)

42 (20; 86)

<0.001

41 (27; 89)

36 (18; 77)

0.097

Cancer suspicion

      

Yes

36 (20; 67)

30 (16; 56)

<0.001

30 (21; 44)

22 (15; 37)

0.001

No

52 (27; 98)

46 (23; 89)

0.018

51 (30; 91)

43 (28; 84)

0.259

  1. *The number of cases at Vejle Hospital was too small to produce precise results on head and neck cancer (n = 9) and prostate cancer (n = 19).