Replication Code for Pediatric Cancer Diagnosis Intervals in Quebec, 2010-2022

Replication code for the study 'Time to diagnosis among children and adolescents with cancer in Quebec, Canada: a population-based study' by Mullen et al. The study analyzed diagnostic intervals for 2,927 individuals aged 0–19 years diagnosed with one of 12 common cancers between 2010 and 2022. The code was authored by Callum Mullen and last updated in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Replicate quantile regression analyses on factors associated with diagnostic intervals based on cancer type, age, and rurality mentioned in the description.
• Study variations in healthcare system performance based on the geographic and temporal factors described.
• Benchmark diagnostic timeliness for specific cancer types like carcinomas and leukemias against the reported median intervals.
• Investigate the impact of pandemic-related care changes on diagnosis speed based on the post-2020 period analysis.

Strengths

• Based on a population-level study of 2,927 individuals, providing a substantial sample size.
• Covers a 12-year time range (2010–2022), allowing for longitudinal and pre/post-pandemic analysis.
• Includes analysis of 12 common cancer types with specific median intervals reported, such as 100 days for carcinomas and 8 days for leukemias.

Limitations

• Row count for the underlying data is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

Borealis Harvested Dataverse

Collection Method

Retrospective population-based study using healthcare encounter data.

Time Range

2010 to 2022

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-25 04:15:40; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Quebec, Canada