Routes to Diagnosis for Suspected Sarcoma: The Impact of Symptoms and Clinical Findings on the Diagnostic Process
Table 6
Estimated differences in time intervals at the 50th and 75th percentiles, measured as difference in calendar days with 95% confidence intervals (CI), calculated by quantile regression.
Patient interval
Primary care interval
Local hospital interval
Sarcoma centre interval
Diagnostic interval
Total interval
Estimate (95% CI)
Estimate (95% CI)
Estimate (95% CI)
Estimate (95% CI)
Estimate (95% CI)
Estimate (95% CI)
Sarcoma patients versus patients with benign conditions
50th percentile
16 (−37 : 69)
10 (4 : 15)
0 (−9 : 10)
0 (−9 : 10)
19 (10 : 28)
26 (−34 : 86)
75th percentile
−7 (−18 : 5)
24 (9 : 39)
−2 (−12 : 9)
−2 (−12 : 9)
30 (14 : 45)
206 (145 : 267)
Patients with other malignancies versus patients with benign conditions
50th percentile
−21 (−30 : −12)
9 (−3 : 22)
−13 (−18 : −8)
5 (3 : 8)
−2 (−9 : 6)
−47 (−60 : −34)
75th percentile
−211 (−226 : −196)
−6 (−11 : −2)
−27 (−36 : −17)
4 (0 : 7)
−15 (−43 : 13)
−285 (−296 : −274)
Patients presenting with a lump versus patients presenting without a lump
50th percentile
26 (−3 : 56)
−19 (−26 : −12)
4 (−2 : 10)
−4 (−7 : −1)
−9 (−22 : 3)
−4 (−40 : 31)
75th percentile
39 (11 : 67)
−30 (−42 : −17)
−21 (−28 : −14)
−7 (−10 : −3)
−11 (−52 : 29)
121 (75 : 167)
Patients presenting with pain versus patients presenting without pain
50th percentile
40 (18 : 61)
12 (1 : 23)
5 (−3 : 13)
1 (0 : 3)
17 (12 : 21)
78 (60 : 96)
75th percentile
19 (−10 : 47)
14 (5 : 23)
16 (7 : 26)
1 (−2 : 4)
37 (23 : 51)
82 (58 : 105)
Patients where GP initially suspected malignancy versus patients where GP did not suspect malignancy
50th percentile
−41 (−54 : −28)
−1 (−12 : 10)
−20 (−29 : −11)
−1 (−2 : 1)
−31 (−68 : 7)
−104 (−117 : −91)
75th percentile
−187 (−202 : −171)
−21 (−28 : −15)
−50 (−62 : −38)
−2 (−5 : 2)
−74 (−112 : −35)
−480 (−516 : −445)
Tumour size over 5 cm versus tumour size under 5 cm
50th percentile
24 (2 : 46)
5 (−21 : 31)
−6 (−14 : 3)
1 (−1 : 4)
−1 (−12 : 10)
43 (27 : 59)
75th percentile
170 (131 : 210)
6 (−6 : 18)
−7 (−21 : 8)
2 (−3 : 7)
9 (−9 : 28)
225 (174 : 275)
Subfascial depth versus subcutaneous depth
50th percentile
−31 (−49 : −12)
2 (−2 : 5)
3 (−8 : 14)
1 (−1 : 3)
9 (2 : 16)
−34 (−81 : 13)
75th percentile
−306 (−319 : −293)
−2 (−17 : 13)
−4 (−16 : 7)
2 (0 : 4)
5 (−9 : 19)
−296 (−309 : −283)
High-grade tumours versus low-grade tumours
50th percentile
−160 (−191 : −129)
−1 (−11 : 8)
0 (−5 : 5)
0 (−4 : 4)
21 (11 : 31)
−104 (−110 : −98)
75th percentile
−1195 (−1281 : −1110)
7 (−2 : 16)
20 (11 : 28)
4 (1 : 7)
38 (29 : 46)
−1270 (−1288 : −1253)
All estimates are adjusted for age. Bold numbers indicate statistical significance at the 5% level. Analysis included only patients with soft tissue tumors. Analysis included only patients with data for tumor size measured on MRI/CT or histology. Analysis included only patients with data available for this variable. Patients who were not seen by the GP and patients where the GP had not answered the question were excluded from the analysis. Analysis included only sarcoma patients.
