Impact of treatment delay on the prognosis of patients with ovarian cancer: A population-based study using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Database

Background: Delays in cancer-related treatments are common. This retrospective study aimed to assess the impact of treatment delay on prognosis in patients with ovarian cancer. Results: : Of the 21,590 patients included, 15,675 (72.6%), 5,582 (25.9%), and 333 (1.54%) were classified into the immediate treatment (<1 month after diagnosis), intermediate-delay (1–2 month delayed), and long-delay groups (≥3 months delayed), respectively. The 5-year probability of overall survival (OS) was 61.4% in the immediate treatment group, decreasing to 36.4% and 34.8% in the intermediate- and long-delay groups, respectively. Similar survival differences were also reflected in cancer-specific survival (CSS), with 5-year CSS probabilities of 66.7%, 42.6%, and 41.8% in the aforementioned groups, respectively. Patients in the intermediate-delay group showed poorer OS (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 1.06; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02–1.11; p=0.006) and CSS (adjusted HR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.01–1.11; p=0.012) than immediate treatment group. Conclusions: : Patients with delayed treatment had poorer OS and CSS. For patients with newly diagnosed ovarian cancer, the waiting time for treatment should be as short as possible (i.e., within 1 month).