Study population
The general characteristics of the patients from both units are displayed in Table 1. No significant differences were observed in the mean age. Patients from the Tertiary Unit were significantly more likely than those from the Secondary Unit to be referred from the emergency department (61.2 vs. 17.0%, respectively;P <0.0001), to be referred with symptoms suggestive of cancer, and to have a final diagnosis of malignancy. While the ratio of successive/first visits in the Tertiary Unit was significantly higher than that in the secondary center unit (3.098 ± 0.6584 vs. 2.123 ± 0.2171, respectively;P =0.0064), the mean time to diagnosis was significantly shorter in the former (8 [IQR, 4-13] vs. 12 [1-28], respectively;P <0.0001) (Table 1).