ABSTRACT
Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in delayed medical care that may have led to increased death rates in 2020 among people with medical conditions such as cancer. This study examined changes in cancer-related mortality between 2019 and 2020. Methods: We used the US 2019-2020 Multiple Cause of Death database from the CDC WONDER to identify cancer-related deaths, defined as decedents with invasive or noninvasive cancer as a contributing cause of death (ICD-10 codes: C00-C97 and D00-D09). We compared age-standardized cancer-related annual and monthly mortality rates (per 100,000 person-years and person-months, respectively) in January-December 2020 (pandemic) versus January-December 2019 (pre-pandemic) overall and stratified by rurality and place of death. We calculated the 2020 excess death by comparing the numbers of observed death with the projected death based on age-specific cancer-related death rate from 2015 to 2019. Results: The number of cancer-related deaths was 686 054 in 2020, up from 664 888 in 2019, with an annual increase of 3.2%. Compared to the number of projected deaths for 2020 (666 286), the number of cancer-related excess deaths was 19 768 in 2020. Annual age-standardized cancer-related mortality rate (per 100,000 person-years) continuously decreased from 173.7 in 2015 to 162.1 in 2019, while it increased to 164.1 in 2020 (2020 vs 2019 rate ratio (RR): 1.013, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.009 - 1.016). The cancer-related monthly mortality rate was higher in April 2020 (RR: 1.032, 95% CI: 1.020 - 1.044) when healthcare capacity was most challenged by the pandemic, subsequently declined in May and June 2020, and higher mortality rates were again observed each month from July to December 2020 compared to 2019. In large metropolitan areas, the largest increase in cancer-related mortality was observed in April 2020, while in non-metropolitan areas, the largest increases occurred from July to December 2020, coinciding with the time-spatial pattern of COVID-19 incidence in the country. Compared to 2019, cancer-related mortality rates were lower from March to December 2020 in medical facilities, hospice facilities, and nursing homes or long-term care settings but higher in decedent's homes. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic led to significant increases in cancer-related deaths in 2020 versus 2019. Ongoing evaluation of the spatialtemporal effects of the pandemic on cancer care and outcomes is warranted, especially in relation to patterns in vaccine uptake and COVID-19 hospitalization rates.
ABSTRACT
Introduction Viruses have been shown to reveal autoimmune diseases like type1 diabetes and systemic connectivities like dermatomyositis (DM). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is best known for its respiratory symptoms but multiple systems could be affected in acute or post COVID-19 infection period. Clinical dermatomyositis following COVID-19 infection was exceptionally reported. Observation We report a case of a 61-year- woman with no medical history observed in March 2021 with bilateral edema. Doppler ultrasound demonstrated a superficial venous thrombosis of saphenous veins. The patient had a suspicious epidemiological history, and her chest CT scans showed lung damage similar to that caused by COVID-19. PCR test for Coronavirus confirmed the infection. She was treated by curative anticoagulation, steroids and oxygen therapy. Two months after her leaving, she was presented in internal medicine's department with pulmonary embolism despite good anti coagulation. Her PCR test for Coronavirus was negative. At her admission, she was complained of asthenia weight loss and pain in scapular and pelvic muscles. Physical examination revealed erythematous patches with edema in periorbital areas. Chest auscultation found bilateral basal lung crepitation. Bilateral proximal muscle weakness in upper and lower extremities was objectified. Oral examination found ulcerations in the lower gingiva. We found signs of arthritis in wrists and proximal interphalangeal joints. Biological tests showed anemia (hemoglobin =8.6g/dl), accelerated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (65mm H1) ;high C-reactive protein(119mg/l)d biological myolysis and cytolydid (Creatinin kinase=1052 U/l, LDH=478 AST/ALT 238 U/l/119 U/l). Infectious investigations including HCV, HBV and HIV serology were negative. Thyroid function test was in normal range. Neoplastic research was negative. Immunologic analysis revealed positive antinuclear antibodies (ANA) with anti JO1 antibodies. Anti cardiolipin antibodies and kit-myositis were negatives. Electromyographic findings revealed inflammatory myositis. The patient was treated by high doses of steroids then progressively decreased. Good progress was noticed. Conclusion Dermatomyositis is an inflammatory myopathy relatively rare. An elevation of its incidence was noticed during the pandemic period coinciding of corona virus [1]. Viral infections could induce autoimmunity and may be the eliciting event in the pathogenesis of myositis [2]. In our case, dermatomyositis is hypothetically linked to viral trigger on the background of genetic predisposition. The spectrum of complications following COVID-19 is broad but incidence is too rare including Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, Guillain-Barré syndrome and autoimmune haemolytic anaemia recorded in 1, 5 and 7 patients respectively, 4–13 days following onset of COVID-19 symptoms. We assume that true dermatomyositis, triggered by COVID-19 may occur and the immunopathogenicity is via type 1 IFN pathway. Tanboon et al. commented that 58-year-old COVID-19 patient reported to have myositis may actually have dermatomyositis.
ABSTRACT
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic led to delays in medical care in the United States. We examined changes in patterns of cancer diagnosis and surgical treatment in 2020 using real-time electronic pathology report data from population-based SEER cancer registries in Georgia and Louisiana. Methods: Bi-weekly numbers, distributions, and patterns of pathology reports were compared between January 1 and December 31 in 2020 and the same period in 2019 by age group and cancer site. Results: During 2020, there were 29,905 fewer pathology reports than in 2019, representing a 10.2% decline. Absolute declines were greatest among adults aged ≥50 years (N=23,065);percentage declines were greatest among children and young adults ≤18 years (38.3%). By cancer site, percentage declines were greatest for lung cancer (17.4%), followed by colorectal (12.0%), breast (9.0%) and prostate (5.8%) cancers. Biweekly reports were statistically significantly lower in 2020 than in 2019 from late March through the end of December in most biweekly periods. The nadir was the month of April 2020 - the number of reports was at least 40% lower than in April 2019. The number of reports in 2020 compared with 2019 also declined sharply in early November (26.8%) and late December (32.0%). Numbers of reports in 2020 never consistently exceeded those in 2019 after the first decline. Patterns were similar by cancer site, with variation in magnitude and duration of declines. Conclusions: Significant declines in cancer pathology reports from population-based registries during 2020 suggest substantial delays in screening, evaluation of signs and symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment services for cancers with effective screening tests as well as in cancer sites and age groups without effective screening tests as an indirect result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ongoing evaluation will be critical for informing public health efforts to minimize any lasting adverse effects of the pandemic on cancer screening, diagnosis, treatment, and survival.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the unemployment rate has sharply risen from 3.5% in February2020 to 13.3% in May 2020, a level not seen since the Great Depression. There are an estimated 21.0 millionunemployed adults in the United States. Employers are the most common source of health insurance amongworking-aged adults and their families. Thus, job loss may lead to loss of insurance and reduce access to cancerscreening, which can detect cancer at earlier, more treatable stages, and reduce cancer mortality. In this study, weexamined sequential associations between unemployment, health insurance, and cancer screening to informCOVID's potential longer-lasting impacts on early cancer detection. Methods: Up-to-date (UTD) and recent (past-year) breast (BC) and colorectal cancer (CRC) screening prevalence were computed among respondents aged 50-64 years in 2000-2018 National Health Interview Survey data.Respondents were grouped as unemployed (not working but looking BC n=852;CRC n=1,747) and employed(currently working BC n=19,013;CRC n= 36,566). A series of logistic regression models with predicted marginalprobabilities were used to estimate unemployed vs. employed unadjusted (PR) and adjusted prevalence ratios(aPR) and corresponding 95% Confidence Intervals (CI). Results: Unemployed adults were four times as likely to be uninsured as employed adults (41.4% v 10.0%, p-value<0.001). Unemployment was associated with lower UTD breast (67.8% vs 77.5%, p-value<0.001, PR=0.82, 95%CI0.77,0.87) and colorectal (49.4% and 60.1%, p-value<0.001, PR=0.86, 95%CI 0.80, 0.92) cancer screeningprevalence. These differences remained after adjusting for race/ethnicity, age, and sex, but were eliminated afteraccounting for health insurance. Patterns and magnitudes of PR and aPRs were similar for past-year CRC and BCscreening prevalence. Conclusion: Unemployment was adversely associated with guideline-recommended and potentially life-savingbreast and colorectal cancer screening. Compared to the employed, the unemployed disproportionately lackedhealth insurance, which accounted for their lower cancer screening utilization. Expanding and ensuring healthinsurance coverage after job loss may mitigate COVID-19's economic impacts on cancer screening.