Oral cancer is a public health problem because of its high morbidity and mortality, and when not treated in a timely manner, it is significantly mutilating, causing damage to the physical and psychological aspects of patients and directly interfering with their quality of life. Several factors influence the early diagnosis of this pathology, including lack of self-care related to oral health, especially among people with prolonged use of dental prosthesis; delayed perception of the lesion; delayed search for professional assistance since the lesion is noticed by the patient; lack of information about oral cancer, its risk and protective factors, and oral lesions that may be suggestive of cancer; lack of health promotion and prevention activities aimed at oral cancer; and lack of training in oral cancer among oral health professionals. These factors must be tackled to promote the timely diagnosis of this pathology. The use of reliable noninvasive diagnosis methods is also important because they can be easily made available in low resource settings, increasing the coverage of people who are under risk of developing oral cancer.

Background This paper aims to describe the profile of oral cancer (OC) patients, their risk classification and identify the time between screening and treatment initiation in Rio de Janeiro Municipality. Method Data were obtained from the healthcare Regulation System (SISREG) regarding the period January 2013 to September 2015. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analysis were performed identifying the factors associates with a diagnosis of OC as well as the time to treatment initiation (TTI) differences between groups. Results From 3,862 individuals with a potential OC lesion, 6.9 % had OC diagnosis. OC patients were 62.3 y.o. (mean), 64.7 % male, 36.1 % were white and 62.5 % of the records received a red/yellow estimated risk classification. Being older, male, white and receiving a high-risk classification was associated with having an OC diagnosis. OC TTI was in average 59.1 days and median of 50 days significantly higher than non-OC individuals (p = 0.007). TTI was higher for individuals older than 60 years old, male, and white individuals and for risk classification red and yellow, nevertheless while in average none of these differences were statistically significant, the median of individuals classified as low risk was significantly (p = 0.044) lower than those with high risk. Conclusions Time to treatment initiation (TTI) was higher for OC patients related to non OC. Despite OC confirmed was associated with risk at screening classified as urgent or emergent, a high percentage of OC patients had their risk classified for elective care when specialized care was requested.

Background: This paper aims to describe the profile of oral cancer (OC) patients, their risk classification and identify the time between screening and treatment initiation in Rio de Janeiro Municipality.Method: Data were obtained from the healthcare Regulation System (SISREG) regarding the period January 2013 to September 2015. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analysis were performed identifying the factors associates with a diagnosis of OC as well as the time to treatment initiation (TTI) differences between groups.Results: From 3,862 individuals with a potential OC lesion, 6.9% had OC diagnosis. OC patients were 62.3 y.o. (mean), 64.7% male, 36.1% were white and 62.5% of the records received a red/yellow estimated risk classification. Being older, male, white and receiving a high-risk classification was associated with having an OC diagnosis. OC TTI was in average 59.1 days and median of 50 days significantly higher than non-OC individuals (p=0.007). TTI was higher for individuals older than 60 years old, male, and white individuals and for risk classification red and yellow, nevertheless while in average none of these differences were statistically significant, the median of individuals classified as low risk was significantly (p=0.044) lower than those with high risk.Conclusions: Time to treatment initiation (TTI) was higher for OC patients related to non OC. Despite OC confirmed was associated with risk at screening classified as urgent or emergent, a high percentage of OC patients had their risk classified for elective care when specialized care was requested.

Introduction: This paper aims to describe the profile of oral cancer (OC) patients, their risk classification and identify the time between screening and treatment initiation in Rio de Janeiro Municipality.Method: Data were obtained from the healthcare Regulation System (SISREG) regarding the period January 2013 to September 2015. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analysis were performed identifying the factors associates with a diagnosis of OC as well as the time to treatment initiation (TTI) differences between groups.Results: From 3,862 individuals with a potential OC lesion, 6.9% had OC diagnosis. OC patients were 62.3 y.o. (mean), 64.7% male%, 36.1% were white and 62.5% of the records received a red/yellow estimated risk classification. Being older, male, white and receiving a high-risk classification was associated with having an OC diagnosis. OC TTI was in average 59.1 days and median of 50 days significantly higher than non-OC individuals (p=0.007). TTI was higher for individuals older than 60 years old, male, and white individuals and for risk classification red and yellow, nevertheless while in average none of these differences were statistically significant, the median of individuals classified as low risk was significantly (p=0.044) lower than those with high risk.Conclusions: Time to treatment initiation (TTI) was higher for OC patients related to non OC. Despite OC confirmed was associated with risk at screening classified as urgent or emergent, a high percentage of OC patients had their risk classified for elective care when specialized care was requested.