Wait times between a cancer diagnosis and the start of treatment grew by nearly two weeks over the past decade in the United States, according to a study published in JAMA Surgery.
Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles and Massachusetts General Hospital analyzed national data from more than two million patients diagnosed between January 2012 and December 2023. The study tracked adults with early to locally advanced stages of six common cancers: breast, colon, lung, pancreatic, stomach, and esophageal. All patients received surgery as part of their initial care.
Across all six cancer types, median wait times grew by more than 10 days over the study period, regardless of whether surgery came first or followed other treatments.
Stomach cancer saw the longest increases, with wait times rising from 35 days to 49 days. Lung cancer delays grew from 41 days to 53 days. Breast cancer wait times increased from 34 to 45 days. Colon cancer delays climbed from 20 to 31 days. Pancreatic cancer waits rose from 23 to 32 days, and esophageal cancer delays grew from 38 to 48 days. Researchers also found that a growing share of patients waited 60 days or longer to begin treatment.
"This is part of our healthcare system that needs fixing immediately," said Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, who was not involved in the study.
The delays appeared even at high-volume academic medical centers. After adjusting for factors like age and underlying health, researchers found the delays did not affect all groups equally. Longer wait times were seen for Black patients, people on Medicaid, individuals in lower-income areas, patients traveling longer distances for care, and those treated at academic medical centers or high-volume hospitals.
"The waiting times for basic cancer operations in non-metastatic diseases is high and increasing since 2012," Siegel added.
The West experienced longer delays than other regions. For non-breast cancers, the use of robotic surgery was linked to longer wait times.
The study authors noted that delays in surgical treatment have been tied to higher death rates and worse long-term survival in previous medical research. In supporting commentary published alongside the study, Lia D. Delaney, M.D., and Sherry M. Wren, M.D., both of the Stanford School of Medicine in Palo Alto, California, noted that cancer care has become increasingly sophisticated over the last two decades.
