Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Breast Cancer Patient Care: Results From a Tertiary Care Center in Lebanon
PURPOSEWe aimed to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on breast cancer care in terms of the stage at presentation, treatment delays, and follow-up in a tertiary care center in Lebanon.MATERIALS AND METHODSThis retrospective study compared patients with breast cancer who presented to a tertiary care cen...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Society of Clinical Oncology
2025-04-01
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| Series: | JCO Global Oncology |
| Online Access: | https://ascopubs.org/doi/10.1200/GO-24-00275 |
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| Summary: | PURPOSEWe aimed to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on breast cancer care in terms of the stage at presentation, treatment delays, and follow-up in a tertiary care center in Lebanon.MATERIALS AND METHODSThis retrospective study compared patients with breast cancer who presented to a tertiary care center in Lebanon before (September 2019-December 2019) and during (September 2020-December 2020) the COVID-19 pandemic. We extracted data from the electronic medical records of patients with breast cancer who had their initial presentation, were under treatment, or were on follow-up during our period of interest.RESULTSOf the 333 patients, 186 visited the hospital in the pre–COVID-19 period and 147 during the pandemic, showing almost a 12% reduction in the number of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the pre-COVID period, more patients were presented for screening (52%); however, more symptomatic patients were presented during the pandemic (51.4%). Almost 54% had an advanced stage at presentation during the pandemic compared with 48% before the pandemic but with no statistical significance (P = .50). Significantly fewer patients came for chemotherapy in the COVID-19 period (38.1%) compared with the pre–COVID-19 period (52.2%). Fewer patients underwent surgery during the pandemic, although the difference was not statistically significant. Multivariate analysis showed that the COVID-19 pandemic was not associated with having an advanced stage at presentation (P = .24).CONCLUSIONThe management of breast cancer was not substantially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in a sample of Lebanese patients. However, 4 months might not be sufficient to draw a solid conclusion. |
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| ISSN: | 2687-8941 |