A long waiting time from diagnosis to treatment decreases the survival of non-small cell lung cancer patients with stage IA1: A retrospective study

ObjectiveThe prognostic effect of delayed treatment on stage IA1 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients is still unclear. This study aimed to explore the association between the waiting time before treatment and the prognosis in stage IA1 NSCLC patients.MethodsEligible patients diagnosed with pathological stage IA1 NSCLC were included in this study. The clinical endpoints were overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS). The Kaplan-Meier method, the Log-rank test, univariable, and multivariable Cox regression analyses were used in this study. Propensity score matching was used to reduce the bias of data distribution.ResultsThere were eligible 957 patients in the study. The length of waiting time before treatment stratified the survival in patients [