ABSTRACT
Background: COVID-19 has significantly disrupted cancer care. This has impacted on staging, management and survival of gastric cancer as health services worldwide had to adapt. Responding to the pandemic, the UK government declared a national lockdown on 23 March 2020. Our aim was to determine the impact of COVID-19 and socio-economic deprivation on patients with newly diagnosed gastric cancers. Method(s): This was a retrospective cohort study. Consecutive new patients presenting in NHS Scotland to five regional OG cancer MDTs covering 93.2% of the Scottish population between October 2019 and September 2020 were identified. Gastric cancers were included and electronic health records were reviewed. Patient's residential address was used to calculate Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). Patients were divided into two groups: Most deprived (SIMD 1-5) and least deprived (SIMD 6-10) and results compared. The study period was divided into pre- and post-lockdown, based on the first UK national lockdown of 23 March 2020. Result(s): 269 patients were diagnosed with gastric cancer;4 (1.5%) were excluded due to unrecognised postcode. 173 (65.3%) were male and the median age was 73 years (range 29-94). 143 (54.0%) were in most deprived and 122 (46.0%) were in least deprived group. Deprivation and lockdown: Age, sex, ECOG performance status and route of referral were not significantly different. No clinically meaningful difference in median time to gastroscopy was observed (16.5 vs 17 days). Stage 4 cancer were more commonly observed in most deprived group (60.8% vs 52.1%). In whole cohort, the palliative care intent was higher post-lockdown (70% vs 83.2%, p=0.033). Palliative intent treatment increased in the most deprived group from 74.3% to 81.2% and in least deprived from 65.2% to 85.7% (p=0.092). The median survival for the whole cohort decreased post-lockdown (9.0 vs 6.9 months, p=0.14), but did not reach statistical significance. The medial survival did not change for the most deprived group (7.6 vs 7.1 months, p=0.840), however it decreased significantly for the least deprived group post-lockdown (11 vs 6.7 months, p=0.014). A test of heterogeneity between lockdown period and SIMD group supported the suggestion that the least deprived cohort did worse post-lockdown (HR 1.72, p=0.055). Conclusion(s): This national study highlights that the least deprived patients had survival advantage pre-lockdown, which has been completely lost post COVID-19 national lockdown. This disproportional impact on the least deprived patients could be because early cancers were not diagnosed in the least deprived population.
ABSTRACT
Background: COVID-19 has significantly disrupted cancer care. This may have impacted on staging, management and survival as health services worldwide had to adapt. Responding to the pandemic, the UK government declared a national lockdown on 23rd March 2020. This national study investigated the effect of the national response on oesophago-gastric (OG) cancers in Scotland, including time from referral to gastroscopy, staging at presentation, multidisciplinary team (MDT) treatment outcomes and overall survival. Method(s): This was a retrospective cohort study. Consecutive new patients presenting in NHS Scotland to five regional OG cancer MDTs covering 93.2% of the Scottish population between October 2019 and September 2020 were identified. Electronic health records were reviewed. The study period was divided into pre- and post-lockdown, based on the first UK national lockdown. Result(s): 931 patients with biopsy-proven OG cancer were identified;499 (53.6%) pre- and 432 (46.4%) post-lockdown. Median age was 71 years (range 25-95) and 66% were male. There were 252 (27.1%) gastric and 679 (72.9%) oesophageal cancers. No clinically meaningful difference in median time to gastroscopy was observed post-lockdown (19 days vs 15 days, P<0.001), however, patients were more likely to present as an emergency (11.1% vs 8.2%, p=0.014). Post-lockdown, patients tended to poorer ECOG PS (p=0.09), were more symptomatic (p=0.007), and presented with higher stage disease (stage 4;57.6% vs 49.3%). There was a significant shift to palliative intent treatment post-lockdown (76.2% vs 64.7%, p<0.001). Median overall survival post-lockdown was 7.6 months vs 10.1 months pre-lockdown (HR 1.24;95% CI 1.06-1.43, p=0.005). Conclusion(s): This national study highlights the impact of COVID-19 on OG cancer diagnosis and outcome in Scotland. Patients presented at a later stage and a shift towards palliative intent treatment was observed, with subsequent negative impact on overall survival. The reason for the observed stage migration of OG cancers is likely multifactorial, occurring prior to the diagnostic pathway and not simply due to a delay in performing gastroscopy.
ABSTRACT
Background: COVID-19 has significantly disrupted cancer care. This has impacted on staging, management and survival of oesophageal cancer as health services worldwide had to adapt. Responding to the pandemic, the UK government declared a national lockdown on 23rd March 2020. Our aim was to determine the impact of COVID-19 and socio-economic deprivation on patients with oesophageal cancers. Method(s): Thiswas a retrospective cohort study.Consecutivenewpatients presenting in NHS Scotland to five regional OG cancer MDTs covering 93.2% of the Scottish population between October 2019 and September 2020 were identified. Electronic health records were reviewed. Patient's residential address was used to calculate Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). Patients were divided into two groups: Most deprived (SIMD 1-5) and least deprived (SIMD 6-10) and results compared. The study period was divided into pre- and post-lockdown, based on the first UK national lockdown on 23rd March 2020. Result(s): 728 patients with were identified, 5 were excluded due to unrecognised postcode. 365 (50.5%) were in the more deprived and 358 (49.5%) were in least deprived group. 488 (67.0%) were male and the median age was 71 years (range 25-95). Deprivation and lockdown: Age, sex, WHO performance status and route of referral was not significantly different. No clinically meaningful difference in median time to gastroscopy was observed. Palliative intent treatment increased in the most deprived from 67.0% to 71.4% and in least deprived from 54.0% to 74.0% (p=0.002). The overall survival for the whole cohort decreased post-lockdown (11.3 vs 7.8 months, p=0.001). Pre-lockdown the median survival for most deprived group was 8.9 vs 15 months for the least deprived group (p=0.001). Post-lockdown the median survival was similar irrespective of socioeconomic status (7.8 vs 6.9 months, p=0.99). The medial survival did not changed post-lockdown for the most deprived group (8.9 vs 7.8 months, p=0.480). However, the median survival for the least deprived group significantly decreased post lockdown (15 vs 6.9 months, p<0.001). A test of heterogeneity between lockdown period and SIMD group supported the suggestion that least deprived group did worse post-lockdown (HR 1.45, p=0.035). Conclusion(s): This national study highlights that the least deprived patients had survival advantage pre-lockdown, which has been completely lost due to the lockdown. This disproportionate impact on the least deprived patients could be because early cancers were not diagnosed in the least deprived population.