Socio-Demographic Factors and Time to Breast Cancer Treatment in a High-Complexity Hospital in Brazil

Objective the aim of this study is to identify the association between educational level and delays in the initiation of oncological treatment. Methods cross-sectional study that evaluated all female patients with BC between January 2022 and December 2023 registered in the Cancer Registry (CR) of Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA). Data collection of the sample was made through electronic medical record review and telephone questionnaires applied on the participants. Descriptive, univariable and multivariable analyses were performed to assess factors associated with the prevalence of delayed treatment initiation. A sample size of 178 subjects was calculated based on retrospective data. Results 307 participants had their data collected between June 1st 2023 until February 1st 2024. and were included in the analysis. In the multivariable analysis, initiation of treatment > 60 days after diagnosis was significantly associated with lower educational level, with an estimated relative risk (RR) of 1.48 (IC 95% = 1.064–2.062). The ethnicity “pardo”, which refers to mixed-race individuals, was correlated with a longer time to treatment when compared to white patients (RR = 1.63; IC 95% = 1.038–2.579). Conclusion This cross-sectional study provides evidence that educational level had a significant impact on time to oncological treatment in our cohort, demonstrated through a multivariable analysis. In addition, self-reported mixed-race ethnicity was also associated with delay. The study also demonstrated that although most participants had their treatment started within 60 days, the time between suspicion of cancer and diagnosis was larger than stipulated by law.