1. Significant Decrease in Annual Cancer Diagnoses in Spain during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Real-Data Study
- Author
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Esperanza Torres, Emilio Alba, M. Cobo, Inmaculada Ramos, Ana Godoy, Laura Galvez, Nuria Ribelles, Sofia Ruiz-Medina, Begoña Jimenez, Marta Muñoz-Ayllon, Pablo Rodriguez-Brazzarola, Mireya Cazorla, María José Bermejo, Tamara Diaz-Redondo, Antonio Rueda, Carmen Reyna, Silvia Gil, [Ruiz-Medina,S, Gil,S, Jimenez,B, Diaz-Redondo,T, Cazorla,M, Muñoz-Ayllon,M, Ramos,I, Reyna,C, Bermejo,MJ, Godoy,A, Torres,E, Cobo,M, Galvez,L, Rueda,A, Alba,E, and Ribelles,N] Medical Oncology Intercenter Unit, Regional and Virgen de la Victoria University Hospitals, IBIMA, Málaga, Spain. [Rodriguez-Brazzarola,P] Grupo de Inteligencia Computacional en Biomedicina, ETSI Ingeniería Informática, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain.
- Subjects
Cancer Research ,Pediatrics ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Diseases::Neoplasms::Neoplasms by Site::Head and Neck Neoplasms [Medical Subject Headings] ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,Infecciones por coronavirus ,COVID-19 pandemic ,Article ,03 medical and health sciences ,cancer diagnoses ,0302 clinical medicine ,Breast cancer ,Pandemic ,medicine ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Medical diagnosis ,Pathological ,Diseases::Neoplasms::Neoplasms by Site::Breast Neoplasms [Medical Subject Headings] ,RC254-282 ,Geographical Locations::Geographic Locations::Europe::Spain [Medical Subject Headings] ,Pandemia ,SARS-CoV-2 ,business.industry ,COVID-19 ,Health Care::Environment and Public Health::Public Health::Disease Outbreaks::Epidemics::Pandemics [Medical Subject Headings] ,Neoplasms. Tumors. Oncology. Including cancer and carcinogens ,Cancer ,Diseases::Neoplasms::Neoplasms by Site::Digestive System Neoplasms::Gastrointestinal Neoplasms::Intestinal Neoplasms::Colorectal Neoplasms [Medical Subject Headings] ,medicine.disease ,Neoplasias ,Diseases::Virus Diseases::RNA Virus Infections::Nidovirales Infections::Coronaviridae Infections::Coronavirus Infections [Medical Subject Headings] ,Hospital care ,Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment::Investigative Techniques::Epidemiologic Methods::Epidemiologic Study Characteristics as Topic::Epidemiologic Studies::Cross-Sectional Studies [Medical Subject Headings] ,Oncology ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,Population study ,business ,real data - Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a profound change in health organizations at both the primary and hospital care levels. This cross-sectional study aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the annual rate of new cancer diagnosis in two university-affiliated hospitals. This study includes all the patients with a pathological diagnosis of cancer attended in two hospitals in Málaga (Spain) during the first year of pandemic. This study population was compared with the patients diagnosed during the previous year 2019. To analyze whether the possible differences in the annual rate of diagnoses were due to the pandemic or to other causes, the patients diagnosed during 2018 and 2017 were also compared. There were 2340 new cancer diagnosis compared to 2825 patients in 2019 which represented a decrease of −17.2% (p = 0.0001). Differences in the number of cancer patients diagnosed between 2018 and 2019 (2840 new cases, 0.5% increase) or 2017 and 2019 (2909 new cases, 3% increase) were not statistically significant. The highest number of patients lost from diagnosis in 2020 was in breast cancer (−26.1%), colorectal neoplasms (−16.9%), and head and neck tumors (−19.8%). The study of incidence rates throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic shows that the diagnosis of new cancer patients has been significantly impaired. Health systems must take the necessary measures to restore pre-pandemic diagnostic procedures and to recover lost patients who have not been diagnosed.
- Published
- 2021