ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE To analyze the impact of the different phases of the covid-19 pandemic on hospitalizations for oral (CaB) and oropharyngeal (CaOR) cancer in Brazil, carried out within the scope of the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS). METHODS We obtained data regarding hospital admissions due to CaB and CaOR between January 2018 and August 2021 from the SUS Hospital Information System, analyzing hospital admissions as rates per 100,000 inhabitants. We divided the pandemic (January 2020 to August 2021) and pre-pandemic (January 2018 to December 2019) periods into four-month periods, comparing the pandemic period rates with analogous rates for the pre-pandemic period – for Brazil, by macro-region and by a group of procedures performed during hospitalization. We also analyzed the impact of the pandemic on the average cost of hospitalizations, expressing the results in percentage change. RESULTS Rates of hospitalization in the SUS due to CaB and CaOR decreased during the pandemic in Brazil. The most significant reduction occurred in the second four-month period of 2020 (18.42%), followed by decreases in the third four-month period of 2020 (17.76%) and the first and second four-month periods of 2021 (respectively, 14.64% and 17.07%), compared with 2019. The South and Southeast showed the most expressive and constant reductions between the different phases of the pandemic. Hospitalizations for clinical procedures suffered a more significant decrease than for surgical procedures. In Brazil, the average expenditure per hospitalization in the four-month pandemic periods was higher than in the reference periods. CONCLUSION After more than a year of the pandemic's beginning in Brazil, the SUS hospital care network for CaB and CaOR had yet to be re-established. The repressed demand for hospitalizations for these diseases, which have fast evolution, will possibly result in delays in treatment, negatively impacting the survival of these patients. Future studies are needed to monitor this situation.
Subject(s)
Betacoronavirus , Biomedical Research/trends , Coronavirus Infections , Global Health/trends , Pandemics , Pneumonia, Viral , Brazil/epidemiology , COVID-19 , Coronavirus Infections/epidemiology , Coronavirus Infections/prevention & control , Health Policy/trends , Humans , Pandemics/prevention & control , Pneumonia, Viral/epidemiology , Pneumonia, Viral/prevention & control , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
Timely diagnosis and treatment of oral and oropharyngeal cancers are central for the patient's survival. Our objective was to document the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the rate of hospitalizations due to these cancers in Brazil's National Health System (SUS). The number of hospitalizations by these cancers during the first periods of the pandemic-and between the same period of 2016 to 2019-was retrieved from the SUS Hospital Information System. We compared hospitalization rates between pre- and pandemic periods, by State. The hospitalization rate for oral and oropharyngeal cancer during the pandemic was lower than that of the same period of previous years. The decline between 2019 and 2020 was of 49.3%, reaching 60% in the North. The reduction in hospitalization during an extended period suggests that oral and oropharyngeal cancer care will be postponed, with potentially detrimental impact on survival.