About 60% of newly diagnosed cancer patients made at least one visit to the emergency department for symptoms, but only half of those resulted in hospitalization, a UT Southwestern's Simmons Cancer Center study found.
The study, published in American Journal of Managed Care, analyzed data from almost 40,000 adults with new cancer diagnosis between 2012 and 2018, and compared records of Dallas-area patients who visited the emergency department in the first half of 2023.
They found about 50% of the patients made one to three emergency room visits in the first six months after their diagnosis and 10% had four or more visits. Of patients who visited, 81% were self-referred, 7% relied on medical advice and about 12% called for triage help before the visit.
More than half of visits ended in hospitalizations, but about 25% were emergencies that did not require hospitalization, and the other 25% did not require emergency care. Nonemergency visits were more likely to happen with patients who did not consult a nurse triage line, went to the hospital on weekends or holidays, or went to hospitals close to their home.
The study's authors said future research should focus on why the majority of patients don't seek assistance from their clinicians when deciding if emergency care is appropriate. "Providers should take this as a signal to better address unmet patient needs," study leader Arthur Hong, MD, assistant professor of internal medicine and in the Peter O'Donnell Jr. School of Public Health at Dallas-based UT Southwestern, said in an Oct. 24 news release.