Raman, Sivaraj and Shafie, Asrul Akmal and Abraham, Mannil Thomas and Kiong, Shim Chen and Maling, Thaddius Herman and Rajendran, Senthilmani and Cheong, Sok Ching (2022) Time-to-treatment of oral cancer and potentially malignant oral disorders: Findings in Malaysian public healthcare. Dentistry Journal, 10 (11). ISSN 2304-6767, DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/dj10110199.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
This study aims to evaluate the time-to-treatment of oral cancer and potentially malignant oral disorders (PMOD) in a Malaysian public healthcare setting while exploring its contributing factors. It consists of (1) a cross-sectional patient survey to quantify time to seek care and barriers faced, and (2) a retrospective medical record abstraction to determine treatment and management intervals. Time intervals were aggregated and analyzed by their primary contributor—patient, professional, or healthcare system. The average total time-to-treatment of the 104 patients investigated was 167 days (SD = 158). This was predominantly contributed by the patient interval of 120 days (SD = 152). In total, 67.0 of patients delayed their visit to primary healthcare centers because they assumed the lesions were not dangerous or of concern. Additionally, there was a significant difference between patients ‘facing’ and ‘not facing’ difficulties to seek care, at 157 vs. 103 days (p = 0.028). System and professional delays were comparably shorter, at 33 days (SD = 20) and 10 days (SD = 15) respectively. Both demonstrated a significant difference between oral cancer and PMOD, at 43 vs. 29 days (p < 0.001) and 5 vs. 17 days (p < 0.001). The findings reiterate the need to reform current initiatives to better promote early lesion recognition by patients and implement strategies for the elimination of their access barriers. © 2022 by the authors.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Funders: | Asrul Akmal Shafie [Grant no. FRGS/1/2018/SKK14/USM/02/1], Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Access; Delays; Oral cancer; Precancerous conditions; Public hospitals; Risk-taking; Time-to-treatment |
| Subjects: | R Medicine > RK Dentistry |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Dentistry > Dept of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery |
| Depositing User: | Ms. Juhaida Abd Rahim |
| Date Deposited: | 15 Feb 2024 07:06 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Feb 2024 07:06 |
| URI: | http://eprints.um.edu.my/id/eprint/43843 |
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