New Study: 35% People Diagnosed With Cancer All Did This One Thing in the 90 Days Prior

There’s almost no way to be ready for a cancer diagnosis—but according to a team of researchers headquartered in Toronto, one trend seems to be highlighting a possible heads-up.

A new study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) has found that there may be a common experience shared by more than one-third of cancer patients in the 90 days leading up to their diagnosis date. According to the study, published November 4, 2024, 35% of people newly diagnosed with cancer had visited a hospital emergency department (ED) in the three months prior.

The researchers conducted an analysis of adult patients who’d received a confirmed cancer diagnosis in Ontario, Canada between 2014 and 2021. Analyzing the medical records of 651,071 patients with cancer, they found that 229,683 had visited an emergency department within 90 days before diagnosis. Within that group, 51% had been admitted to the hospital from the emergency department—many for symptoms that were later determined to be related to their cancer diagnosis.

Interestingly, particular types of cancer were especially likely to be preceded by an ED visit. “We observed significant variation in emergency department use by cancer type, with high odds of emergency department use among patients with [brain-related], pancreatic, liver or gallbladder, or thoracic cancer,” the study authors wrote. (“Thoracic” refers to the general region of the body ranging between the chest and pelvis.)

Geographical factors also played a role in whether patients visited an ED prior to their diagnosis. Patients who lived in rural areas, those in certain regions of Canada, and those “living in the most marginalized areas” were all more likely to have visited the ED than those who did not. This may suggest poor access among those patients to other pathways to diagnosis, like specialist doctors, which likely delayed care until emergency intervention was necessary.

“The emergency department plays an important role in the diagnosis of cancer for many patients,” the researchers note. “Several large studies have identified several routes to cancer diagnosis, with the emergency department representing one such route.” However, they add that discovering a possible cancer diagnosis in an emergency setting may be especially distressing for those individuals.

“Moreover, [the ED] is frequently ill-equipped to provide ongoing continuity of care, which can lead patients down a poorly defined diagnostic pathway before receiving a confirmed diagnosis based on tissue and a subsequent treatment plan,” the study states.

Though the study underscores just how common it is for patients to rely on the ED for diagnosis, more research is needed to further identify which patient populations most often utilize emergency services under these circumstances. Understanding the factors associated with ED use could both help to reduce reliance on the emergency department during the diagnostic phase and improve access to cancer care after that diagnosis is discovered—and that could lead to earlier detection and better health outcomes.

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