Impact of COVID Pandemic on Cancer Care: Cross-sectional Scenario of an Indian State (Bihar)

Abstract

Introduction: World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak as pandemic on March 11th 2019. Since then, it has massive impact on public health and economy. Various measures including lock-down, social distancing and massive vaccination drive are implemented globally to curb the spread of the pandemic. Objective: The study is conducted to analyse the demography and census of the patients attending department of radiotherapy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Patna during the first wave hit of COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 to assess the impact of this pandemic on cancer care. Methods and materials: Census data was retrieved digitally from 1st January 2019 to 15th June 2019 from Hospital Information system. We analyzed the visit of cancer patients to the day care chemotherapy unit, out patient department, and hospital admission and compared the data between pre-lockdown and post-lockdown periods. Results: A total of 1175 patients with malignancy visited department of radiotherapy from 1st January to 23rd March 2019. After the lock down announcement of nationwide lock down the total number of patient visiting to radiotherapy department dropped to 445 patients. This decrease is not significantly correlating with age group of patients (age < 18 years, 18-70 years and >70 years). Between 24th March and 15th June,123 patients were screened for SARS-CoV-2 patients before hospital admissions, three of them found to be positive for SARS-CoV-2 and were shifted to COVID ward. Distance of the affected district from the care giving hospital has massive impact on cancer care due to restricted logistic. Conclusion: The cancer care in COVID pandemic is highly dependent on the judicious discretion of the oncologists to maintain the balance between added risk of COVID infection and benefit of treatment modalities. With massive vaccination drive, and effective implementation of lock down of the containment zones, the spread of the pandemic has to be restricted further, with the continuation of ‘new normal’ activities.

Health Literacy and COVID-19 Vaccination among Cancer Patients in Northeastern Thailand: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…The findings reveal a strong role of positive doctor suggestions (Wang et al, 2022). One of the few studies on the impact of the COVID pandemic on cancer care found that care was heavily reliant on oncologists' judgment to strike a balance between additional risks of COVID infection and the advantages of in-person treatment (Mandal et al, 2021) Participants with a history of laboratory confirmation of COVID-19 infection were more likely to receive COVID-19 vaccine (OR Adj = 2.37; 95% CI:1.19-4.71). It related with a study in Canada, a study focusing on the factors associated with timely COVID-19 vaccination in patients with cancer reported that those with COVID-19 infections were more likely to accept the vaccine than those without infections (OR Adj = 1.12; 95% CI:1.10-1.15).…”