US wait times for cancer surgeries are getting longer and longer
Study finds wait times for cancer surgeries hit 10-year high.
The wait times for cancer surgery in the United States have been steadily increasing over the past decade, according to a study published in JAMA Surgery. Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles found that patients with six different types of cancer—breast, colon, lung, pancreatic, gastric, and esophageal—experienced longer wait times for surgery compared to 2012.
Timeliness is a crucial factor in healthcare quality, and delays in cancer surgery have been associated with poorer outcomes, such as reduced survival rates and increased patient anxiety and distress. The study analyzed data from over 2.7 million patients who underwent surgery for non-metastatic stage I–III cancers between 2012 and 2023, breaking the time frame into four periods: 2012–2015, 2016–2019, 2020–2021, and 2022–2023.
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