The Improving Rural Cancer Outcomes (IRCO) Trial: A factorial clusterrandomised controlled trial of a complex intervention to reduce time to diagnosis in rural patients with cancer in Western Australia: A study protocol
Introduction: While overall survival for most common cancers in Australia is improving, the rural-urban differential has been widening, with significant excess deaths due to lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancer in regional Australia. Internationally a major focus on understanding variations...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2014
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/31413 |
| _version_ | 1848753374019715072 |
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| author | Emery, J. Gray, V. Walter, F. Cheetham, S. Croager, E. Slevin, Terry Saunders, C. Threlfall, T. Auret, K. Nowak, A. Geelhoed, E. Bulsara, M. Holman, C. |
| author_facet | Emery, J. Gray, V. Walter, F. Cheetham, S. Croager, E. Slevin, Terry Saunders, C. Threlfall, T. Auret, K. Nowak, A. Geelhoed, E. Bulsara, M. Holman, C. |
| author_sort | Emery, J. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Introduction: While overall survival for most common cancers in Australia is improving, the rural-urban differential has been widening, with significant excess deaths due to lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancer in regional Australia. Internationally a major focus on understanding variations in cancer outcomes has been later presentation to healthcare and later diagnosis. Approaches to reducing time to diagnosis of symptomatic cancer include public symptom awareness campaigns and interventions in primary care to improve early cancer detection. This paper reports the protocol of a factorial cluster-randomised trial of community and general practice (GP) level interventions to reduce the time to diagnosis of cancer in rural Western Australia (WA). Methods and analysis: The community intervention is a symptom awareness campaign tailored for rural Australians delivered through a community engagement model. The GP intervention includes a resource card with symptom risk assessment charts and local referral pathways implemented through multiple academic detailing visits and case studies. Participants are eligible if recently diagnosed with breast, colorectal, lung or prostate cancer who reside in specific regions of rural WA with a planned sample size of 1350. The primary outcome is the Total Diagnostic Interval, defined as the duration from first symptom (or date of cancer screening test) to cancer diagnosis. Secondary outcomes include cancer stage, healthcare utilisation, disease-free status, survival at 2 and 5 years and cost-effectiveness. Ethics and dissemination: Ethics approval has been granted by the University of Western Australia and from all relevant hospital recruitment sites in WA. Results: Results of this trial will be reported in peerreviewed publications and in conference presentations. Trial registration number: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR). ACTRN12610000872033. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:23:30Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-31413 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:23:30Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-314132017-09-13T15:20:00Z The Improving Rural Cancer Outcomes (IRCO) Trial: A factorial clusterrandomised controlled trial of a complex intervention to reduce time to diagnosis in rural patients with cancer in Western Australia: A study protocol Emery, J. Gray, V. Walter, F. Cheetham, S. Croager, E. Slevin, Terry Saunders, C. Threlfall, T. Auret, K. Nowak, A. Geelhoed, E. Bulsara, M. Holman, C. Introduction: While overall survival for most common cancers in Australia is improving, the rural-urban differential has been widening, with significant excess deaths due to lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancer in regional Australia. Internationally a major focus on understanding variations in cancer outcomes has been later presentation to healthcare and later diagnosis. Approaches to reducing time to diagnosis of symptomatic cancer include public symptom awareness campaigns and interventions in primary care to improve early cancer detection. This paper reports the protocol of a factorial cluster-randomised trial of community and general practice (GP) level interventions to reduce the time to diagnosis of cancer in rural Western Australia (WA). Methods and analysis: The community intervention is a symptom awareness campaign tailored for rural Australians delivered through a community engagement model. The GP intervention includes a resource card with symptom risk assessment charts and local referral pathways implemented through multiple academic detailing visits and case studies. Participants are eligible if recently diagnosed with breast, colorectal, lung or prostate cancer who reside in specific regions of rural WA with a planned sample size of 1350. The primary outcome is the Total Diagnostic Interval, defined as the duration from first symptom (or date of cancer screening test) to cancer diagnosis. Secondary outcomes include cancer stage, healthcare utilisation, disease-free status, survival at 2 and 5 years and cost-effectiveness. Ethics and dissemination: Ethics approval has been granted by the University of Western Australia and from all relevant hospital recruitment sites in WA. Results: Results of this trial will be reported in peerreviewed publications and in conference presentations. Trial registration number: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR). ACTRN12610000872033. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/31413 10.1136/bmjopen-2014-006156 BMJ Publishing Group fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Emery, J. Gray, V. Walter, F. Cheetham, S. Croager, E. Slevin, Terry Saunders, C. Threlfall, T. Auret, K. Nowak, A. Geelhoed, E. Bulsara, M. Holman, C. The Improving Rural Cancer Outcomes (IRCO) Trial: A factorial clusterrandomised controlled trial of a complex intervention to reduce time to diagnosis in rural patients with cancer in Western Australia: A study protocol |
| title | The Improving Rural Cancer Outcomes (IRCO) Trial: A factorial clusterrandomised controlled trial of a complex intervention to reduce time to diagnosis in rural patients with cancer in Western Australia: A study protocol |
| title_full | The Improving Rural Cancer Outcomes (IRCO) Trial: A factorial clusterrandomised controlled trial of a complex intervention to reduce time to diagnosis in rural patients with cancer in Western Australia: A study protocol |
| title_fullStr | The Improving Rural Cancer Outcomes (IRCO) Trial: A factorial clusterrandomised controlled trial of a complex intervention to reduce time to diagnosis in rural patients with cancer in Western Australia: A study protocol |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Improving Rural Cancer Outcomes (IRCO) Trial: A factorial clusterrandomised controlled trial of a complex intervention to reduce time to diagnosis in rural patients with cancer in Western Australia: A study protocol |
| title_short | The Improving Rural Cancer Outcomes (IRCO) Trial: A factorial clusterrandomised controlled trial of a complex intervention to reduce time to diagnosis in rural patients with cancer in Western Australia: A study protocol |
| title_sort | improving rural cancer outcomes (irco) trial: a factorial clusterrandomised controlled trial of a complex intervention to reduce time to diagnosis in rural patients with cancer in western australia: a study protocol |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/31413 |