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Bladder cancer diagnosis delayed in women after hematuria presentation
Delays between presentation with hematuria and diagnosis of bladder cancer were common among all patients, yet women experienced more significant delays, according to results of a retrospective, population-based study.
Researchers utilized the MarketScan databases — which include data from approximately 100 health insurance plans that serve about 40 large employers in the United States — to identify 5,416 men and 2,233 women who presented with hematuria and were subsequently diagnosed with bladder cancer between 2004 and 2010.
Time between hematuria presentation and bladder cancer diagnosis served as the primary outcome.
The health insurance data indicated women experienced significantly longer time between the initial hematuria claim and subsequent bladder cancer claim than men (85.4 days vs. 73.6 days; P˂.001).
A higher percentage of women experienced a delay longer than 6 months (17.3% vs. 14.1%; P˂.001).
Researchers determined that women were more likely to be diagnosed with a urinary tract infection (OR=2.32; 95% CI, 2.07-2.59) and more women received antibiotics (40.1% vs. 35.4%; P˂.001).
In addition, women were less likely to undergo abdominal or pelvic imaging than men (OR=0.80; 95% CI, 0.71-0.89).
“Given the well-described inferior survival outcomes for women with bladder cancer, and the impact of delayed diagnosis on survival, prompt diagnosis of bladder cancer in women is exceedingly important,” the researchers wrote. “Improved education and adherence to guidelines could greatly benefit our future patients.”
Disclosure: The researchers report consultant roles with and speaker fees from Abbott Molecular, Bioniche, Covidien, EndoPharmaceuticals, Photocure, Predictive Biosciences, Prometheus, Taris Biomedical and Tengion.