Delayed Diagnosis Linked to Poorer Treatment Response in Children With

A cohort study of 111 children treated for central nervous system tumors at a Mexican national pediatric institute links diagnostic delay to worse outcomes. Published in Frontiers in Pediatrics, the study found that if diagnosis took more than one month after symptoms began—or more than three months—the children were significantly more likely to fail to respond to treatment and to experience relapse. Researchers reviewed electronic medical records for patients newly diagnosed between October 2018 and October 2021, using WHO 2016 histopathology classification. Diagnosis was confirmed by histopathology in 104 of 111 cases (94%), while seven germ cell tumor cases used cerebrospinal fluid and serum tumor markers plus neuroimaging. The median time from symptom onset to diagnosis was 80 days (interquartile range 29–195). Diagnostic delays were common: 72.1% waited over a month, 46.8% over three months, and 28.8% over six months.