Significant Decrease in Annual Cancer Diagnoses in Spain during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Real-Data Study
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a profound change in health organizations at both the primary and hospital care levels. This cross-sectional study aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the annual rate of new cancer diagnosis in two university-affiliated hospitals. This study in...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
MDPI AG
2021-06-01
|
Series: | Cancers |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/13/13/3215 |
id |
doaj-5f80787a9ee74d28b9d919b67222adda |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Sofía Ruiz-Medina Silvia Gil Begoña Jimenez Pablo Rodriguez-Brazzarola Tamara Diaz-Redondo Mireya Cazorla Marta Muñoz-Ayllon Inmaculada Ramos Carmen Reyna María José Bermejo Ana Godoy Esperanza Torres Manuel Cobo Laura Galvez Antonio Rueda Emilio Alba Nuria Ribelles |
spellingShingle |
Sofía Ruiz-Medina Silvia Gil Begoña Jimenez Pablo Rodriguez-Brazzarola Tamara Diaz-Redondo Mireya Cazorla Marta Muñoz-Ayllon Inmaculada Ramos Carmen Reyna María José Bermejo Ana Godoy Esperanza Torres Manuel Cobo Laura Galvez Antonio Rueda Emilio Alba Nuria Ribelles Significant Decrease in Annual Cancer Diagnoses in Spain during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Real-Data Study Cancers cancer diagnoses COVID-19 pandemic real data |
author_facet |
Sofía Ruiz-Medina Silvia Gil Begoña Jimenez Pablo Rodriguez-Brazzarola Tamara Diaz-Redondo Mireya Cazorla Marta Muñoz-Ayllon Inmaculada Ramos Carmen Reyna María José Bermejo Ana Godoy Esperanza Torres Manuel Cobo Laura Galvez Antonio Rueda Emilio Alba Nuria Ribelles |
author_sort |
Sofía Ruiz-Medina |
title |
Significant Decrease in Annual Cancer Diagnoses in Spain during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Real-Data Study |
title_short |
Significant Decrease in Annual Cancer Diagnoses in Spain during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Real-Data Study |
title_full |
Significant Decrease in Annual Cancer Diagnoses in Spain during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Real-Data Study |
title_fullStr |
Significant Decrease in Annual Cancer Diagnoses in Spain during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Real-Data Study |
title_full_unstemmed |
Significant Decrease in Annual Cancer Diagnoses in Spain during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Real-Data Study |
title_sort |
significant decrease in annual cancer diagnoses in spain during the covid-19 pandemic: a real-data study |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Cancers |
issn |
2072-6694 |
publishDate |
2021-06-01 |
description |
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a profound change in health organizations at both the primary and hospital care levels. This cross-sectional study aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the annual rate of new cancer diagnosis in two university-affiliated hospitals. This study includes all the patients with a pathological diagnosis of cancer attended in two hospitals in Málaga (Spain) during the first year of pandemic. This study population was compared with the patients diagnosed during the previous year 2019. To analyze whether the possible differences in the annual rate of diagnoses were due to the pandemic or to other causes, the patients diagnosed during 2018 and 2017 were also compared. There were 2340 new cancer diagnosis compared to 2825 patients in 2019 which represented a decrease of −17.2% (<i>p</i> = 0.0001). Differences in the number of cancer patients diagnosed between 2018 and 2019 (2840 new cases; 0.5% increase) or 2017 and 2019 (2909 new cases; 3% increase) were not statistically significant. The highest number of patients lost from diagnosis in 2020 was in breast cancer (−26.1%), colorectal neoplasms (−16.9%), and head and neck tumors (−19.8%). The study of incidence rates throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic shows that the diagnosis of new cancer patients has been significantly impaired. Health systems must take the necessary measures to restore pre-pandemic diagnostic procedures and to recover lost patients who have not been diagnosed. |
topic |
cancer diagnoses COVID-19 pandemic real data |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/13/13/3215 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT sofiaruizmedina significantdecreaseinannualcancerdiagnosesinspainduringthecovid19pandemicarealdatastudy AT silviagil significantdecreaseinannualcancerdiagnosesinspainduringthecovid19pandemicarealdatastudy AT begonajimenez significantdecreaseinannualcancerdiagnosesinspainduringthecovid19pandemicarealdatastudy AT pablorodriguezbrazzarola significantdecreaseinannualcancerdiagnosesinspainduringthecovid19pandemicarealdatastudy AT tamaradiazredondo significantdecreaseinannualcancerdiagnosesinspainduringthecovid19pandemicarealdatastudy AT mireyacazorla significantdecreaseinannualcancerdiagnosesinspainduringthecovid19pandemicarealdatastudy AT martamunozayllon significantdecreaseinannualcancerdiagnosesinspainduringthecovid19pandemicarealdatastudy AT inmaculadaramos significantdecreaseinannualcancerdiagnosesinspainduringthecovid19pandemicarealdatastudy AT carmenreyna significantdecreaseinannualcancerdiagnosesinspainduringthecovid19pandemicarealdatastudy AT mariajosebermejo significantdecreaseinannualcancerdiagnosesinspainduringthecovid19pandemicarealdatastudy AT anagodoy significantdecreaseinannualcancerdiagnosesinspainduringthecovid19pandemicarealdatastudy AT esperanzatorres significantdecreaseinannualcancerdiagnosesinspainduringthecovid19pandemicarealdatastudy AT manuelcobo significantdecreaseinannualcancerdiagnosesinspainduringthecovid19pandemicarealdatastudy AT lauragalvez significantdecreaseinannualcancerdiagnosesinspainduringthecovid19pandemicarealdatastudy AT antoniorueda significantdecreaseinannualcancerdiagnosesinspainduringthecovid19pandemicarealdatastudy AT emilioalba significantdecreaseinannualcancerdiagnosesinspainduringthecovid19pandemicarealdatastudy AT nuriaribelles significantdecreaseinannualcancerdiagnosesinspainduringthecovid19pandemicarealdatastudy |
_version_ |
1721299901727375360 |
spelling |
doaj-5f80787a9ee74d28b9d919b67222adda2021-07-15T15:31:37ZengMDPI AGCancers2072-66942021-06-01133215321510.3390/cancers13133215Significant Decrease in Annual Cancer Diagnoses in Spain during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Real-Data StudySofía Ruiz-Medina0Silvia Gil1Begoña Jimenez2Pablo Rodriguez-Brazzarola3Tamara Diaz-Redondo4Mireya Cazorla5Marta Muñoz-Ayllon6Inmaculada Ramos7Carmen Reyna8María José Bermejo9Ana Godoy10Esperanza Torres11Manuel Cobo12Laura Galvez13Antonio Rueda14Emilio Alba15Nuria Ribelles16Medical Oncology Intercenter Unit, Regional and Virgen de la Victoria University Hospitals, IBIMA, 29010 Málaga, SpainMedical Oncology Intercenter Unit, Regional and Virgen de la Victoria University Hospitals, IBIMA, 29010 Málaga, SpainMedical Oncology Intercenter Unit, Regional and Virgen de la Victoria University Hospitals, IBIMA, 29010 Málaga, SpainGrupo de Inteligencia Computacional en Biomedicina, ETSI Ingeniería Informática, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Málaga, SpainMedical Oncology Intercenter Unit, Regional and Virgen de la Victoria University Hospitals, IBIMA, 29010 Málaga, SpainMedical Oncology Intercenter Unit, Regional and Virgen de la Victoria University Hospitals, IBIMA, 29010 Málaga, SpainMedical Oncology Intercenter Unit, Regional and Virgen de la Victoria University Hospitals, IBIMA, 29010 Málaga, SpainMedical Oncology Intercenter Unit, Regional and Virgen de la Victoria University Hospitals, IBIMA, 29010 Málaga, SpainMedical Oncology Intercenter Unit, Regional and Virgen de la Victoria University Hospitals, IBIMA, 29010 Málaga, SpainMedical Oncology Intercenter Unit, Regional and Virgen de la Victoria University Hospitals, IBIMA, 29010 Málaga, SpainMedical Oncology Intercenter Unit, Regional and Virgen de la Victoria University Hospitals, IBIMA, 29010 Málaga, SpainMedical Oncology Intercenter Unit, Regional and Virgen de la Victoria University Hospitals, IBIMA, 29010 Málaga, SpainMedical Oncology Intercenter Unit, Regional and Virgen de la Victoria University Hospitals, IBIMA, 29010 Málaga, SpainMedical Oncology Intercenter Unit, Regional and Virgen de la Victoria University Hospitals, IBIMA, 29010 Málaga, SpainMedical Oncology Intercenter Unit, Regional and Virgen de la Victoria University Hospitals, IBIMA, 29010 Málaga, SpainMedical Oncology Intercenter Unit, Regional and Virgen de la Victoria University Hospitals, IBIMA, 29010 Málaga, SpainMedical Oncology Intercenter Unit, Regional and Virgen de la Victoria University Hospitals, IBIMA, 29010 Málaga, SpainThe COVID-19 pandemic has caused a profound change in health organizations at both the primary and hospital care levels. This cross-sectional study aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the annual rate of new cancer diagnosis in two university-affiliated hospitals. This study includes all the patients with a pathological diagnosis of cancer attended in two hospitals in Málaga (Spain) during the first year of pandemic. This study population was compared with the patients diagnosed during the previous year 2019. To analyze whether the possible differences in the annual rate of diagnoses were due to the pandemic or to other causes, the patients diagnosed during 2018 and 2017 were also compared. There were 2340 new cancer diagnosis compared to 2825 patients in 2019 which represented a decrease of −17.2% (<i>p</i> = 0.0001). Differences in the number of cancer patients diagnosed between 2018 and 2019 (2840 new cases; 0.5% increase) or 2017 and 2019 (2909 new cases; 3% increase) were not statistically significant. The highest number of patients lost from diagnosis in 2020 was in breast cancer (−26.1%), colorectal neoplasms (−16.9%), and head and neck tumors (−19.8%). The study of incidence rates throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic shows that the diagnosis of new cancer patients has been significantly impaired. Health systems must take the necessary measures to restore pre-pandemic diagnostic procedures and to recover lost patients who have not been diagnosed.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/13/13/3215cancer diagnosesCOVID-19 pandemicreal data |