SynthesisOral diseases2025
Primary Care Referral Delays in Oral Cancer Diagnosis: A Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Oral diseases, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Diagnostic Delay and Clinical Follow-Up Across Oral Lichen Planus Phenotypes: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Assessing the covariates of delay in seeking health care among patients with oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma in Tanzania.BMC cancer · 2026Article
- Impact of referral source on diagnosis and treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer in Brazil: a nationwide hospital cancer registry-based study.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Article
- Predictive value of a non-invasive autofluorescence-based device (GOCCLES®) in the early diagnosis of oral potentially malignant disorders and oral cancer: a cross-sectional study.The Saudi dental journal · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo measure the primary care interval (PCI) in the diagnostic delay of oral cancer and to assess the relation of the referring physician's specialty with disease stage at diagnosis.
methodsWe meta-analyzed reports of oral/oropharyngeal carcinomas detailing PCI start- and endpoints, i.e., the time needed by a primary care physician to refer a suspected oral cancer patient to a specialist.
results17 studies with a total of 2530 patients were eligible; nine provided data on the relative length of PCI, and 10 reported on the impact of the referring professional's specialty on oral cancer diagnostic delay. The average PCI length was slightly longer for general practitioners (GPs) (30.5 days) than for general dental practitioners (GDPs) (27.6 days), while that for the total group was 28.7 days. One-third of the total pre-hospital time spent on diagnosis elapses in GP practices (PCI%: 0.31 [95% CI: 0.23, 0.40]). GDPs refer their patients for treatment at earlier disease stages (TNM I-II) than GPs (Odds Ratio: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.34-0.98).
conclusionsPrimary care accounts for a considerable pre-hospital amount of time of what is necessary for reaching a diagnosis of oral cancer patients. This calls for enhancing early oral cancer recognition in primary care settings.
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