Factors Associated With Delay in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Oral Cancer at Two Referral Centres in Nairobi

Abstract

Background: Most patients seen at the University of Nairobi Dental hospital and Kenyatta National hospital present with advanced stage of cancer. There is also a considerable number that visit early enough but do not get treatment in time due to either delay in diagnosis by the healthcare providers or due to system challenges. This has a negative impact on the treatment outcomes and cost. It is important to attempt to establish the cause of these delays. It is equally important to establish how long it takes to have definitive treatment of oral cancers and make a comparison with other countries. There is hardly any research that has been done in Kenya to quantify and to establish the cause of these delays. Broad objective: To establish the duration and the factors responsible for the delay in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with oral cancer. Study site: The study took place at the Oral and maxillofacial surgery departments at University of Nairobi dental school and Kenyatta National hospital (KNH) Participants and Methods: This was a descriptive cross sectional study involving patients who presented with oral cancer at the two clinics. I administered questionnaires to collect data on various study variables.......................................................................