Collateral effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on lung cancer diagnosis in Korea
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Collateral effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on lung cancer diagnosis in Korea Ji Young Park1, Ye Jin Lee2, Taehee Kim3, Chang Youl Lee4, Hwan Il Kim1, Joo-Hee Kim1, Sunghoon Park1, Yong Il Hwang1, Ki-Suck Jung1 and Seung Hun Jang1*
Abstract Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is predicted to significantly affect patients with lung cancer, owing to its rapid progression and high mortality. Studies on lung cancer diagnosis and treatment during an epidemic are lacking. We analyzed the impact of COVID-19 on lung cancer diagnosis in Korea, where lung cancer incidence continues to rise. Methods: The number of newly diagnosed lung cancer cases in three university-affiliated hospitals during the pandemic and their clinical features were compared with lung cancer cases diagnosed during the same period in the past 3 years. The effectiveness of measures taken by the study hospitals to prevent nosocomial transmission was reviewed. Results: A total of 612 patients were diagnosed with lung cancer from February through June, 2017–2020. During the pandemic, the number of patients who sought consultation at the division of pulmonology of study hospitals dropped by 16% from the previous year. Responding to the pandemic, the involved hospitals created physically isolated triage areas for patients with acute respiratory infection symptoms. Wide-range screening and preventive measures were implemented, thus minimizing the delay in lung cancer diagnosis. No patient acquired COVID-19 due to hospital exposure. The proportion of patients with stage III–IV non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) significantly increased (2020: 74.7% vs. 2017: 57.9%, 2018: 66.7%, 2019: 62.7%, p = 0.011). The number of lung cancers diagnosed during this period and the previous year remained the same. Conclusions: The proportion of patients with advanced NSCLC increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Keywords: COVID-19, Lung cancer, Delay, Diagnostics
Background Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2), first discovered in Wuhan, China, spread throughout neighboring Asian countries and has become a global pandemic [1]. Aside from the social and * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, 22 Gwanpyeong-ro 170 beon-gil, Dongan-gu, Anyang 14068, Republic of Korea Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
economic impacts of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19), the repercussions of this pandemic on the public health and healthcare systems cannot be fully assessed solely based on the number of cases and deaths declared by each country. According to a recent British report, approximately 12,000 additional deaths not associated with the virus occurred since the pandemic, compared with the previous year [2]. This suggests that patients with chronic and severe acute diseases were restricted from availing healthcare
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