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Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the health services worldwide. We aimed to investigate the impact of the pandemic on colorectal cancer (CRC) care in the Netherlands in 2020. Methods CRC patients, diagnosed in 2018–2020 in the Netherlands, were selected from the Netherlands Cancer Registry (NCR). The year 2020 was divided in four periods reflecting COVID-19 developments in the Netherlands (pre-COVID, 1st peak, recovery period, 2nd peak) and compared with the same periods in 2018/2019. Patient characteristics and treatment were compared using the Chi-squared test. Median time between diagnosis and treatment, and between (neo)adjuvant therapy and surgery were analyzed by the Mann–Whitney U test. Results In total, 38,021 CRC patients were diagnosed in 2018/2019 (n = 26,816) and 2020 (n = 11,205). Median time between diagnosis and initial treatment decreased on average 4 days and median time between neoadjuvant radiotherapy and surgery in clinical stage II or III rectal cancer patients increased on average 34 days during the three COVID-19 periods compared to the same periods of 2018/2019. The proportion of colon cancer patients that underwent elective surgery significantly decreased with 3.0% during the 1st peak. No differences were found in the proportion of patients who received (neo)adjuvant therapy, systemic therapy, or no anti-cancer treatment. Conclusion Only minor changes in the care for CRC patients occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, mostly during the 1st peak. In conclusion, the impact on CRC care in the Netherlands was found to be limited. However, long-term effects cannot be precluded.

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Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on health care. In the Netherlands, hospital capacity for non-covid care was limited and population screening temporarily halted. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of the pandemic on the diagnostic pathway of breast cancer. Methods: In this study, 48,425 breast cancer patients with a primary breast tumour were selected from the Netherlands Cancer Registry and the Dutch Hospital Data. Patients diagnosed in period January 2020 to July 2021 were divided into six periods, based on the number of hospitalizations due to the COVID-19 pandemic and compared to the same periods in 2017-2019. A t-test was performed to compare the number of diagnosed patients per period. Patient characteristics were compared using chi-squared test. The impact on the procedures performed was analysed using logistic regression. The median time between diagnosis and therapy and the median time between first diagnostic procedure and therapy was analysed using Cox Proportional Hazards Regression. All results were corrected for age, stage and region. Results: During the first peak of the pandemic in 2020, significantly fewer patients (-48,2%) have been diagnosed with breast cancer. This decrease is mainly seen in lower stage tumours. Mammography and echography were performed significantly less per patient during the first recovery in 2020 (OR=0.83 and OR=0.85 respectively) compared to 2017-2019. PET-CT was performed significantly more often during the first peak and first recovery in 2020 (OR=1.94 and OR=1.39 respectively). The median time between diagnosis and start of therapy significantly decreased in 2020, during the first peak by 3 days (HR=1.26), during first recovery and second peak by 1 day (HR=1.04 and HR=1.16 respectively). The median time between first diagnostic procedure and start of therapy significantly decreased in 2020, during the first peak by 4 days (HR=1.25), during the first recovery by 1 day (HR=1.04) and during the second peak by 2 days (HR=1.13). Conclusion: The decreased number of diagnosis was related to the temporary halt of the screening. Diagnostics for early stage tumours was limited and for PET-CT was performed more often reflecting the change in proportion of higher stage. A reduced time of the diagnostic pathway is the result of less hospitalized patients with cancer and the effort on keeping the oncology care in place. Table 1. Overview results diagnostic pathway of breast cancer. *significant difference between periods p<0.05 **significant difference between periods p<0.01 Citation Format: Wouter Wolfkamp, Joyce Meijer, Jolanda Van Hoeve, Jeroen Veltman, Sabine Siesling. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the diagnostic pathway of breast cancer in the Netherlands: a population-based study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-05-19.