Posted: Monday, April 11, 2022
It is known that the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted breast cancer screening and proper function of cancer clinics. In addition, Kelly Kapp, MD, of the University of Missouri, Kansas City School of Medicine, and colleagues found that the pandemic also impacted breast cancer stage at presentation, as well as the time to first treatment and surgery, for many women with breast cancer at an urban safety-net hospital. The results of this institutional review board–approved study were presented during the 2022 American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS) Annual Meeting.
“Given that our population already had a history of presenting with threefold higher rates of late-stage cancer pre-pandemic, the increased risk and the implications for care and outcomes are enormous,” stated Dr. Kapp in an ASBrS press release. “Patients at safety-net hospitals already are significantly disadvantaged, and COVID set them back even more. We must make sure that this does not happen again.”
The data, which focused on 82 patients diagnosed with breast cancer from March 2020 to April 2021 (COVID cohort) and 90 patients diagnosed from March 2018 to February 2019 (pre-COVID control cohort), were collected through an institutional cancer registry. Participant demographics, stage at presentation, time to first treatment, and time to surgery were compared between the two cohorts.
Both study groups demonstrated similar baseline characteristics. Compared with the pre-COVID cohort (18.9%), patients in the COVID cohort (31.7%) were more likely to present with late-stage disease (P = .05). Notably, when multiple logistic regression was controlled for insurance and race, women diagnosed during COVID restrictions were 1.2 times more likely to present with late-stage disease than those diagnosed pre-COVID (P < .05). Of particular significance, individuals in the COVID cohort experienced a longer time to first treatment and surgery than those in the pre-COVID cohort (P < .001).
Disclosure: The study authors reported no conflicts of interest.
2022 American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting