BMC cancer
Impact of and recovery after Covid-19 on breast cancer diagnosis and care in Johannesburg, South Africa
By Petlele R, Chikwati RP, Ojoniyi OO and 13 others.
Abstract
Background
COVID-19 negatively impacted cancer diagnostic and treatment services worldwide. These challenges were further compounded in low- and middle-income countries, where longstanding resource constraints limited the capacity to maintain standard treatment pathways. We aimed to assess the impact of COVID-19 on (i) stage at diagnosis and time intervals from symptom recognition to a pathological confirmed breast cancer (BC) diagnosis and (ii) treatment initiation at two academic hospitals in Johannesburg; Chris Hani Baragwaneth Academic Hospital (Site 1) and Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital (Site 2).
Methods
We compared the proportion of BC cases diagnosed at a late stage (stage III/IV) and median time intervals of pre-contact (T1), diagnostic (T2) and treatment initiation following diagnosis (T3) pre, during and post COVID-19 among 2522 women. Using cumulative Kaplan-Meier time-to-event analysis we assessed the proportions of women achieving internationally benchmarked intervals.