MONDAY, Nov. 4, 2024 (HealthDay News) — More than one-third of patients have emergency department use within 90 days before a confirmed cancer diagnosis, according to a study published online Nov. 4 in CMAJ, the journal of the Canadian Medical Association.

Keerat Grewal, M.D., from Sinai Health at the University of Toronto, and colleagues conducted a retrospective, population-based study of patients aged 18 years or older with a confirmed cancer diagnosis from 2014 to 2021 to describe emergency department use within the 90 days before diagnosis.

The cohort included 651,071 patients with cancer, of whom 35.3 percent had an emergency department visit in the 90 days before diagnosis; of those with an emergency department visit, 51.4 percent were admitted from the emergency department. The researchers found that the likelihood of emergency department use before cancer diagnosis was increased in association with factors such as rurality (odds ratio, 1.15), residence in Northern Ontario (odds ratios, 1.14 and 1.27 for the North East and North West regions, respectively, versus Toronto), and living in the most marginalized areas (odds ratios, 1.37 and 1.09 for material resources and housing, respectively, versus least marginalized quartile). The odds of emergency department use varied significantly by cancer type, with elevated odds seen among patients with intracranial, pancreatic, liver or gallbladder, or thoracic cancer.

“We identified several patient groups that were more likely to visit the emergency department within 90 days before cancer diagnosis, including those who were older, were living in more marginalized areas, were from rural or northern areas, had comorbidities, had several types of cancer, or were diagnosed during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the authors write.

One author disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

Abstract/Full Text

Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.