TY - JOUR
T1 - Advanced Stage Head and Neck Cancer Diagnosis
T2 - HEADSpAcE Consortium Health Systems Benchmarking Survey
AU - HEADSpAcE Consortium
AU - Creaney, Grant
AU - de Aquino Goulart, Mariél
AU - McMahon, Alex
AU - Paterson, Claire
AU - McCaul, James
AU - Perdomo, Sandra
AU - Mendoza, Laura
AU - Alemany, Laia
AU - Arantes, Lidia Maria Rebolho
AU - Urrego, Paula Andrea Rodriguez
AU - Dudding, Tom
AU - Pring, Mirana
AU - Vilensky, Marta
AU - Cuffini, Cecilia
AU - de Blanc, Silvia Adriana Lopez
AU - de Oliveira, José Carlos
AU - Pervez, Shahid
AU - Saintigny, Pierre
AU - Cuello, Mauricio
AU - Betka, Jaroslav
AU - Pinto, Luis Felipe Ribeiro
AU - Curado, Maria Paula
AU - Zendehdel, Kazem
AU - Richiardi, Lorenzo
AU - Popovic, Maja
AU - de Podesta, José Roberto
AU - von Zeidler, Sandra Ventorin
AU - Rocha, Ricardo Mai
AU - Alwaheidi, Shaymaa
AU - Brennan, Paul
AU - Virani, Shama
AU - Ross, Al
AU - Conway, David I.
AU - Adam, R.
AU - Agudo, A.
AU - Ahrens, W.
AU - Alemany, L.
AU - Alibhai, S.
AU - Angel-Pavon, M.
AU - Anwar, N.
AU - Arantes, L.
AU - Arantes, P. E.
AU - Arguello, L.
AU - Avello, Y.
AU - Avondet, L.
AU - Baldión-Elorza, A. M.
AU - Batista-Daniel, C.
AU - Beraldi, B.
AU - Pervez, S.
AU - Saeed-Ali, T.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Author(s). Head & Neck published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.
PY - 2025/7
Y1 - 2025/7
N2 - Background: Globally, most people with head and neck cancers (HNCs) are diagnosed with advanced-stage disease. HNC diagnostic stage has multifactorial explanations, with the role of health system factors not yet fully investigated. Methods: HNC centres (n = 18) from the HEADSpAcE Consortium were surveyed via a bespoke health system questionnaire covering a range of factors. Centres were compared using the least square means for the presence/absence of each health system factor to their proportion of advanced-stage HNC. Results: Health system factors associated with lower proportion in advanced-stage diagnosis were formal referral triaging (14%, 95% CI-0.26, −0.03), routine monitoring of time from referral to diagnosis (16%, 95% CI-0.27, −0.05), and fully publicly funded systems (17%, 95% CI-0.29, −0.06). Several health systems factors had no routinely available data. Conclusions: Through identifying and monitoring health systems factors associated with lower proportions of advanced stage HNC, interventions could be developed, and systems redesigned, to improve early diagnosis.
AB - Background: Globally, most people with head and neck cancers (HNCs) are diagnosed with advanced-stage disease. HNC diagnostic stage has multifactorial explanations, with the role of health system factors not yet fully investigated. Methods: HNC centres (n = 18) from the HEADSpAcE Consortium were surveyed via a bespoke health system questionnaire covering a range of factors. Centres were compared using the least square means for the presence/absence of each health system factor to their proportion of advanced-stage HNC. Results: Health system factors associated with lower proportion in advanced-stage diagnosis were formal referral triaging (14%, 95% CI-0.26, −0.03), routine monitoring of time from referral to diagnosis (16%, 95% CI-0.27, −0.05), and fully publicly funded systems (17%, 95% CI-0.29, −0.06). Several health systems factors had no routinely available data. Conclusions: Through identifying and monitoring health systems factors associated with lower proportions of advanced stage HNC, interventions could be developed, and systems redesigned, to improve early diagnosis.
KW - diagnostic pathway
KW - head and neck cancer
KW - health systems
KW - stage at diagnosis
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85219165977
U2 - 10.1002/hed.28094
DO - 10.1002/hed.28094
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85219165977
SN - 1043-3074
VL - 47
SP - 1977
EP - 1988
JO - Head and Neck
JF - Head and Neck
IS - 7
ER -
