Breast cancer survivorship care during the COVID-19 pandemic within an urban New York Hospital System.
Breast
; 59: 301-307, 2021 Oct.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1340566
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
To examine clinicodemographic determinants associated with breast cancer survivorship follow-up during COVID-19.METHODS:
We performed a retrospective, population-based cohort study including early stage (Stage I-II) breast cancer patients who underwent resection between 2006 and 2018 in a New York City hospital system. The primary outcome was oncologic follow-up prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Secondary analyses compared differences in follow-up by COVID-19 case rates stratified by ZIP code.RESULTS:
A total of 2942 patients with early-stage breast cancer were available for analysis. 1588 (54%) of patients had attended follow-up in the year prior to the COVID-19 period but failed to continue to follow-up during the pandemic, either in-person or via telemedicine. 1242 (42%) patients attended a follow-up appointment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared with patients who did not present for follow-up during COVID-19, patients who continued their oncologic follow-up during the pandemic were younger (p = 0.049) more likely to have received adjuvant radiation therapy (p = 0.025), and have lower household income (p = 0.031) on multivariate modeling. When patients who live in Bronx, New York, were stratified by ZIP code, there was a modest negative association (r = -0.56) between COVID-19 cases and proportion of patients who continued to follow-up during the COVID-19 period.CONCLUSION:
We observed a dramatic disruption in routine breast cancer follow-up during the COVID-19 pandemic. Providers and health systems should emphasize reintegrating patients who missed appointments during COVID-19 back into regular surveillance programs to avoid significant morbidity and mortality from missed breast cancer recurrences.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Breast Neoplasms
/
Survivorship
/
Cancer Survivors
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
/
Young adult
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Breast
Journal subject:
Endocrinology
/
Neoplasms
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.breast.2021.07.018
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