US wait times for cancer surgeries are getting longer and longer
A new study finds that wait times for cancer surgery in the US have increased across six major cancer types over the past decade, with more patients facing delays of 30 days or more.
New research shows that patients in the United States awaiting surgery for several common cancers are waiting longer than they did a decade ago. The study, published in JAMA Surgery, examined records from more than 2.7 million patients diagnosed with non-metastatic stage I–III cancers between 2012 and 2023.
The analysis focused on breast, colon, lung, pancreatic, gastric and esophageal cancers — all cases where surgery was part of the treatment plan. Led by Dr. Timothy Donahue of the University of California, Los Angeles, the team split the study period into four intervals: 2012–2015, 2016–2019, 2020–2021 and 2022–2023. Average wait times rose incrementally across each interval for every cancer type studied.
For example, average wait times increased from 34 to 45 days for breast cancer, from 20 to 31 days for colon cancer, from 41 to 53 days for lung cancer, from 23 to 32 days for pancreatic cancer, from 35 to 49 days for gastric cancer, and from 38 to 48 days for esophageal cancer.
Researchers also found that the share of patients experiencing long delays grew. The proportion of patients waiting at least 30 days for surgery rose across all six cancer types, as did the proportion waiting at least 60 days.
According to the authors, timeliness is a core metric of healthcare quality. Longer waits have been associated with worse outcomes and increased patient anxiety and distress.
