Diagnostic delay in multiple myeloma: the legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic. (preprint)

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has had global healthcare impacts, including high mortality from SARS-CoV-2 infection in cancer patients; individuals with multiple myeloma (MM) are es-pecially susceptible to poor outcomes. However, even for MM patients who avoided severe infection, the ramifications of the pandemic have been considerable. The consequences of necessary socio-geographical behavior adaptation, including prolonged shielding and inter-ruptions in delivery of non-pandemic medical services are yet to be fully understood. Using a real-world dataset of 323 consecutive newly diagnosed MM patients in England, we in-vestigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on routes to myeloma diagnosis, disease stage at presentation and relevant clinical outcomes. We demonstrate increasing MM presentations via emergency services and increased rates of bony and extra-medullary dis-ease. Differences were seen in choice of induction therapy and the proportion of eligible patients undertaking autologous stem cell transplantation. Whilst survival was statistically inferior for emergency presentations, significant survival differences have yet to be demon-strated for the entire cohort diagnosed during the pandemic, making extended follow-up critical in this group. This dataset highlights wide-ranging issues facing MM patients conse-quent of the COVID-19 pandemic, with full impacts for clinicians and policy-makers yet to be elucidated.