Health-Seeking Behavior Returning to Normalcy Overcoming COVID-19 Threat in Breast Cancer
- Author:
Eun-Gyeong LEE
1
;
Yireh HAN
;
Dong-Eun LEE
;
Hyeong-Gon MOON
;
Hyoung Won KOH
;
Eun-Kyu KIM
;
So-Youn JUNG
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article
- From:Cancer Research and Treatment 2023;55(4):1222-1230
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Purpose:The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has significantly impacted the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Our study investigated the change in diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer with the progress of COVID-19 pandemic.
Materials and Methods:The study group comprised 6,514 recently diagnosed breast cancer patients between January 1, 2019, and February 28, 2021. The patients were divided into two groups: pre–COVID-19 period (3,182; January 2019 to December 2019) and COVID-19 pandemic period (3,332; January 2020 to February 2021). Clinicopathological information related to the first treatment after breast cancer diagnosis was retrospectively collected and analyzed in the two groups.
Results:Among the 6,514 breast cancer patients, 3,182 were in the pre–COVID-19 period and 3,332 were in the COVID-19 pandemic period. According to our evaluation, the least breast cancer diagnosis (21.8%) was seen in the first quarter of 2020. The diagnosis increased gradually except for the fourth quarter in 2020. While early-stage breast cancer was diagnosed 1,601 (48.1%) during the COVID-19 pandemic (p=0.001), the number of surgical treatments increased 4.6% (p < 0.001), and the treatment time was slightly shorter 2 days (p=0.001). The breast cancer subtype distribution was not statistically different between the pre–COVID-19 and COVID-19 period groups.
Conclusion:In the early stages of the pandemic, the number of breast cancer cases temporarily decreased; however, they stabilized soon, and no significant differences could be identified in the diagnosis and treatment when compared to the period before the pandemic.
