Trends in Time to Diagnosis of Colon Cancer and Impact on Clinical Outcomes

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There has been a rapid increase in screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) over the past several years in North America. This could paradoxically lead to worsening outcomes if the system is not adapted to deal with the increased demand. For example, this could create increased wait times for endoscopy and delayed time to CRC diagnosis, which could worsen clinical outcomes such as stage at diagnosis and/or survival. No previous Canadian study has evaluated the association between time to CRC diagnosis and clinical outcomes.