Factors delaying the diagnosis of cancer in children

ABSTRACT

In this study, an interview questionnaire including the patient's age, the number of siblings as well as the order of the patient among them, the level of education of the parents and the primary complaint was administered to 150 patients and their families. 59% of the patients were younger than 5 years and 66% were males. 73% of the parents were illiterate and only 17% of them were colleague graduate. The primary complaint was fever and/or fatigue in 42% of the patients, mass in abdomen in 21% and lump in the neck in 18.5%, respectively. The patients included in the current study had leukemias and lymphomas [45%] as well as solid tumor [45%]. The delayed diagnosis was represented in an interval of more than three weeks between the first appearance of symptoms or signs and the diagnosis. Only 41 patients were diagnosed within the first 3 weeks of onset of symptoms