RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a dramatic impact on cancer diagnosis and treatment. Most patients newly diagnosed with digestive system cancer are aged 65 and over. METHODS: We performed a retrospective, observational, multicentre cohort study based on prospectively collected electronic health records. All adults aged 65 or over and having been newly treated for a digestive system cancer between January 2018 until August 2020 were enroled. RESULTS: Data on 7882 patients were analysed. The first COVID-19 lockdown period led to a 42.4% decrease in newly treated digestive system cancers, and the post-lockdown period was associated with a 17% decrease. The decrease in newly treated digestive system cancer did not differ as a function of age, sex, comorbidities, primary tumour site, and disease stage. The proportion of patients admitted to an emergency department increased during the lockdown period. We do not observe a higher 3-month mortality rate in 2020, relative to the corresponding calendar periods in 2018 and 2019. CONCLUSION: To avoid a decrease in newly treated cancers during future lockdown periods, access to healthcare will have to be modified. Although 3-month mortality did not increase in any of the patient subgroups, the 2020 cohort must be followed up for long-term mortality.
Asunto(s)
COVID-19/epidemiología , Neoplasias del Sistema Digestivo/epidemiología , Neoplasias del Sistema Digestivo/terapia , Accesibilidad a los Servicios de Salud , Anciano , Anciano de 80 o más Años , Control de Enfermedades Transmisibles , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Pandemias , Paris/epidemiología , Estudios Retrospectivos , SARS-CoV-2Asunto(s)
COVID-19 , Neoplasias del Sistema Digestivo/diagnóstico , Detección Precoz del Cáncer/tendencias , Endoscopía Gastrointestinal/tendencias , Gastroenterología/tendencias , Bases de Datos Factuales , Neoplasias del Sistema Digestivo/epidemiología , Humanos , Valor Predictivo de las Pruebas , Estudios Retrospectivos , Factores de Tiempo , Estados Unidos/epidemiologíaRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had a huge impact on healthcare systems, resulting in many routine diagnostic procedures either being halted or postponed. AIMS: To evaluate whether the diagnoses of colorectal, gastric and pancreatic cancers have been impacted by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Italy. METHODS: A survey designed to collect the number of histologically-proven diagnoses of the three cancers in gastroenterology services across Italy from January 1 to October 31 in 2017-2020. Non-parametric ANOVA for repeated measurements was applied to compare distributions by years and macro-areas. RESULTS: Compared to 2019, in 2020 gastric cancer diagnoses decreased by 15.9%, CRC by 11.9% and pancreatic by 9.9%. CRC distributions showed significant differences between all years, stomach cancer between 2018 and 2020 and 2019-2020, and pancreatic cancer only between 2017 and 2019. The 2019-2020 comparison showed fewer CRC diagnoses in the North (-13.7%), Center (-16.5%) and South (-4.1%), fewer stomach cancers in the North (-19.0%) and South (-9.4%), and fewer pancreatic cancers in the North (-14.1%) and Center (-4.7%), with an increase in the South (+12.3%). Distributions of CRC and gastric cancer were significantly different between all years in the North. CONCLUSIONS: This survey highlights the concerning effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the diagnostic yield of gastroenterology services for stomach, colorectal and pancreatic cancers in Italy.