Key Points
Surviving lung cancer in Aotearoa New Zealand could depend on whether you can access a GP raising questions about equity in the countrys health system...
Our new research examines the outcomes for patients who are diagnosed with lung cancer through their GP versus those who are diagnosed at the emergency department (ED)...
Examining 2,400 lung cancer diagnoses in Waikato between 2011 and 2021, we found those who are diagnosed with lung cancer after ED visits tended to have later-stage disease and poorer outcomes compared to those diagnosed after a GP referral...
Our study confirms earlier findings that those diagnosed through the emergency department are:. more likely to have advanced disease more likely to have a more aggressive type of cancer (called small cell cancer), and have substantially poorer likelihoods of survival...
Mori and Pacific patients with lung cancer were less likely than other ethnic groups to have been enrolled with a primary health organisation when they were diagnosed..
