Diagnosis delays: a threat for patients and researchers?

Prolonged time to diagnosis of severe diseases may be associated with poor outcome, unnecessary suffering, feelings of guilt for families and physicians, loss of confidence, and malpractice claims.1 Given its specific characteristics compared with adults, the pediatric population is at high risk of delays in diagnosis.2 Studying the frequency, determinants, and consequences of diagnostic delay is crucial to prepare efficient corrective actions. However, studies on time to diagnosis are observational by nature and exposed to many risks of bias, including how participants were selected, how time to diagnosis was measured, and how associations between time to diagnosis and participant characteristics and health outcomes were assessed.

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