Timeliness and Quality of Lung Cancer Care

Timeliness and quality in lung cancer care encompass the rapidity with which patients progress from symptom onset to definitive treatment and the standard of each intervention along that pathway. Delays in recognition, referral, diagnosis and initiation of therapy can adversely affect survival, treatment options and quality of life. Quality of care spans accurate staging, multidisciplinary decision‐making, adherence to evidence‐based protocols and patient‐centred support. Global health systems have increasingly adopted time‐interval benchmarks—from symptom recognition to specialist assessment, from histopathological diagnosis to treatment commencement—to identify bottlenecks and drive improvement. Rapid‐assessment models, integrated care pathways and targeted education for clinicians and the public aim to reduce unwarranted variation. Equity of access remains a critical concern, as social and geographical factors influence both timeliness and the consistency of high‐quality interventions. Demonstrable links between shortened intervals and improved outcomes in early‐stage disease have led to policy initiatives, multidisciplinary diagnostic clinics and process‐mapping exercises designed to standardise waiting‐time definitions and reduce avoidable delays.

Research from Nature Portfolio

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Timeliness and Quality of Lung Cancer Care publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in timeliness and quality of lung cancer care across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Diagnostic interval: The elapsed time between a patient’s first presentation with symptoms and confirmation of cancer diagnosis.

Treatment interval: The period from histopathological or radiological diagnosis to initiation of definitive therapy.

Rapid-assessment clinic: A specialised service designed to expedite diagnostic investigations and reduce waiting times by streamlining multidisciplinary assessments.

Social determinants of health: Non-clinical factors—such as education, income, geography and social support—that influence health behaviours, access to care and clinical outcomes.

References

1. The journey of lung cancer patients from symptoms to diagnosis in Greece. A mixed methods approach. npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine (2024).
2. Treatment delays in patients with lung cancer: a retrospective study conducted at the National Cancer Institute of Mexico between 2004 and 2021. The Oncologist (2025).
3. Characterizing Variability in Lung Cancer Outcomes and Influence of a Lung Diagnostic Assessment Program in Southeastern Ontario, Canada. Current Oncology (2023).