Tertiary Unit (n=407) Secondary Unit (n=407)
P value
Age (years), mean ± SD 60.9 ± 17.54 62 ± 20.00 0.1524
Sex, n (%) 0.0351
Female 208 (51.1) 228 (56.0)
Male 199 (48.9) 179 (44.0)
Referral departments & centers, n (%)
Emergency department 249 (61.2) 69 (17.0) <0.0001
Primary care 130 (31.9) 281 (69.0)
Outpatients clinics 20 (4.9) 49 (12.0)
Other 8 (2.0) 8 (2.0)
Indication for referral, n (%) 0.0012
Symptoms suggestive of cancer 135 (33.2) 106 (26.0)
Other symptoms 272 (66.8) 301 (74.0)
Ratio of successive/first visits, mean ± SD 3.098 ± 0.6584 2.123 ± 0.2171 0.0064
Final diagnosis, n (%) 0.0020
Malignancy 80 (19.7) 58 (14.3)
Non-malignant disease 327 (80.3) 349 (85.7)
Time-to-diagnosis (days) <0.0001
Mean ± SD 11.40 ± 6.75 23 ± 34
Median (interquartile range [IQR]) 8 [4-13] 12 [1-28]