Study population
The general characteristics of the patients from
both units are displayed in Table
1. No significant differences were observed in the mean age.
Patients from
the Tertiary Unit were
significantly more likely than
those from the Secondary Unit to be referred from
the emergency department (61.2 vs.
17.0%, respectively;P <0.0001), to be referred with symptoms suggestive of
cancer, and to have a final diagnosis of malignancy. While the
ratio of successive/first visits
in the Tertiary Unit was
significantly higher
than that in the
secondary
center unit (3.098 ± 0.6584 vs. 2.123 ± 0.2171, respectively;P =0.0064), the mean time to diagnosis was significantly shorter
in the former (8 [IQR, 4-13]
vs. 12 [1-28], respectively;P <0.0001) (Table 1).