Kaplan-Meier survival estimates for diagnostic delay and type of presentation
| Variable | Categorisation | Survival# median (95% CI) | p-value¶ |
| Referral delay+ | ≥2 | 43.43 (37.83–49.02) | <0.01 |
| >2 | 31.86 (28.07–35.65) | ||
| Alarm symptoms | |||
| No symptom | Yes | 66.43 (51.96–80.90) | <0.001 |
| (casual discovery) | No | 33.14 (30.03–36.25) | |
| Cough | Yes | 38.86 (30.79–46.92) | <0.05 |
| No | 35.86 (32.19–39.53) | ||
| Bloody sputum | Yes | 46.43 (34.47–58.39) | ns |
| No | 34.86 (31.58–38.14) | ||
| Dyspnoea | Yes | 26.71 (14.06–39.37) | <0.01 |
| No | 37.57 (33.76–41.39) | ||
| Chest pain | Yes | 27.86 (21.43–34.28) | <0.01 |
| No | 39.29 (35.48–43.09) | ||
| Chest infection | Yes | 49.71 (42.65–56.78) | <0.01 |
| No | 35.14 (31.89–38.40) | ||
| Systemic symptoms | Yes | 17.86 (10.82–24.90) | <0.001 |
| No | 38.86 (35.40–42.31) | ||
| Symptoms of | Yes | 24.14 (19.59–28.69) | <0.001 |
| local or distant dissemination | No | 38.86 (35.29–42.43) |
CI: confidence interval; ns: nonsignificant. #: weeks; ¶: log rank test; +: months from the first symptom of lung cancer (alarming symptom) to the specialist referral (fig. 4⇑)