Use and diagnostic outcomes of cancer patient pathways in Denmark - is the place of initial diagnostic work-up an important factor?

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Documents

  • Fulltext

    Final published version, 1.32 MB, PDF document

Introduction The Cancer Patient Pathway for Non-specific Symptoms and Signs of Cancer (NSSC-CPP) has been implemented in Denmark with regional and intra-regional differences. In some places, the initial diagnostic work-up (often including a CT scan) is performed by general practitioners (GPs) and in others by hospitals. Variations may influence the use of Organ Specific Cancer Patient Pathways (OS-CPPs) and prognostic outcomes for the patients. Therefore, the aims were: 1) To analyse how a CT scan referred from GP or hospital is followed by OS-CPPs and NSSC-CPPs at the national and regional level, and 2) To analyse, nationally and regionally, the diagnostic outcomes of persons referred to CT scan by either GP or hospital six months after and mortality one year after CT scan. Methods A nationwide population-based study including individuals with a first CT scan in 2013-2016, either referred from GP or hospital. Results Overall, individuals with a CT scan referred from GPs were more likely to start a NSSC-CPP or an OS-CPP than individuals with a CT scan referred by hospitals. Across the five Regions in Denmark, CT scans referred by GPs were associated with reduced odds of total mortality in all regions; (North, OR=0.78 [0.73 0.83], Central, OR=0.92 [0.87 0.96], South, OR=0.85 [0.81 0.89], Capital, OR=0.96 [0.91 1.00] and Zealand, OR=0.85 [0.79 0.90]) and increased odds of cancer-specific mortality in four regions, ORs ranging from 1.15-1.51 with no difference in Region North (1.00 [0.91 1.10]). Conclusion No obvious association between more CT scans and CPPs and reduced diagnoses and mortality was observed. The different diagnostic models might not explain the prognostic outcomes, but the different use of CT scans in, and between Regions play a large role in the differences in incidence and mortality.

Original languageEnglish
Article number130
JournalBMC Health Services Research
Volume22
Issue number1
Number of pages12
ISSN1472-6963
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

    Research areas

  • Cancer patient pathways, Cancer diagnostics, Prognostic outcomes, Registry-study, NONSPECIFIC SYMPTOMS, DANISH

Number of downloads are based on statistics from Google Scholar and www.ku.dk


No data available

ID: 291990727