Influence of the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Cancer Care in a German Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Front Public Health
; 9: 750479, 2021.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1566665
ABSTRACT
Introduction:
During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the German government implemented legal restrictions to avoid the overloading of intensive care units by patients with COVID-19. The influence of these effects on diagnosis and treatment of cancer in Germany is largely unknown.Methods:
To evaluate the effect of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic on tumor board presentations in a high-volume tertiary referral center (the German Comprehensive Cancer Center NCT/UCC Dresden), we compared the number of presentations of gastrointestinal tumors stratified by tumor entity, tumor stage, and treatment intention during the pandemic to the respective data from previous years.Results:
The number of presentations decreased by 3.2% (95% CI -8.8, 2.7) during the COVID year 2020 compared with the pre-COVID year 2019. During the first shutdown, March-May 2020, the total number of presentations was 9.4% (-18.7, 1) less than during March-May 2019. This decrease was significant for curable cases of esophageal cancer [N = 37, 25.5% (-41.8, -4.4)] and colon cancer [N = 36, 17.5% (-32.6, 1.1)] as well as for all cases of biliary tract cancer [N = 26, 50% (-69.9, -15)] during the first shutdown from March 2020 to May 2020.Conclusion:
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the presentation of oncological patients in a CCC in Germany was considerable and should be taken into account when making decisions regarding future pandemics.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Biliary Tract Neoplasms
/
Gastrointestinal Neoplasms
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Front Public Health
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Fpubh.2021.750479
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