Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the main indicators of cancer service

ABSTRACT

Objective. To evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the course of cancers and to estimate the achievement of the main indicators of a cancer service in case of the Nizhny Novgorod Region. Subjects and methods. In the Nizhny Novgorod Region, data on the detection and registration of COVID-19 in patients with malignant neoplasms (MNs) were analyzed on the basis of data of the information and analytical system (IAS) «Cancer Registry 6S». Results. As of December 31, 2020, there were a total of 99.477 cancer patients, including 1.470 confirmed COVID-19 cases, accounting for 1.5% of all the registered patients with MNs. Among the cancer patients with COVID-19, the females were 1.6 times more likely to be ill than the males. Analyzing the age structure of cancer patients with COVID-19 revealed that the older ablebodied persons (61.6%) were more likely to get sick than younger ones (38.0%). Cancer concurrent with COVID-19 led to a severe course of COVID-19 in 15.9% of cases and resulted in death of cancer patients in 17.8% of cases. The older able-bodied patients were more likely to die, which accounted for 89.3% of the total number of died cancer patients with COVID-19. In the structure of the causes of death of cancer patients with COVID-19, the latter comes first (51.3%), MNs ranked next (33.0%), circulatory system diseases occupied the third place (13.0%), and other causes ranked fourth (2.7%). According to the 2020 results, the Nizhny Novgorod Region during the COVID-19 pandemic displayed a 0.4% increase in the mortality rate from neoplasms, including that from malignant ones, a 5.0% decrease in the proportion of MNs detected at Stages 1-2, a 22.0% reduction in active detection rates, and a 21.0% rise in neglect rates. Conclusion. Thus, the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affects the course of cancers, by aggravating the condition of cancer patients, which results in a fatal outcome in 17.8% of cases. © 2022, Media Sphera Publishing Group. All rights reserved.