Alshahrani Mohammad, Elyamany Ghaleb, Sedick Qanita, Ibrahim Walid, Mohamed Amal, Othman Mohamed, Al Thibani Nour, Alsuhaibani Omar, Al Amro Mohamed, Gharawi Ali, Al Sharif Omar, Elborai Yasser, Alabbas Fahad, Binhassan Amal, AlMoshary May, Al Mussaed Eman, Alkhayat Nawaf
Department of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Central Military Laboratory and Blood Bank, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Health Serv Insights. 2020 Dec 28;13:1178632920984161. doi: 10.1177/1178632920984161. eCollection 2020.
In January 2020, the WHO declared the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern. Due to the rapid spread of 2019-nCoV, all countries started preventive and precautionary measures to prevent COVID-19 infection spread. These measures limited the population mobility and services provided, which subsequently Impact of on children with cancer and cancer care delivery in the many health centers in Saudi Arabia. We did a cross-sectional study to assess the impact of this outbreak on children with cancer concerning all aspects of life including medical services provided, the specific precautions to prevent spread in cancer patients, mental, psychological effects, and its effect on the quality of life. We collected 204 responses during a survey that assessed the impact on the treatment of cancer children at a tertiary institution during the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of patients were receiving ongoing chemotherapy for leukemia/lymphoma. The majority of these patients (60.5%) reported a delay in treatment received due to hospital cancellation of appointments due to the pandemic. Although the majority of patients in our cohort complained of delayed treatment, fortunately, none of the delays led to fatalities. In the context of global lockdowns and physical distancing to help flatten the COVID-19 curve, telemedicine has proved fundamental to keeping patients and their healthcare providers connected and safe. Children also faced multiple other difficulties such as psychosocial issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our long-term goals are to develop new programs that will enable children with cancer to emerge successfully during a pandemic.
2020年1月，世界卫生组织宣布新型冠状病毒（2019-nCoV）疫情为国际关注的突发公共卫生事件。由于2019-nCoV的迅速传播，各国纷纷启动预防和防范措施以防止新冠病毒感染的传播。这些措施限制了人口流动和所提供的服务，进而对沙特阿拉伯许多医疗中心的癌症患儿及癌症护理服务产生了影响。我们开展了一项横断面研究，以评估此次疫情对癌症患儿生活各个方面的影响，包括所提供的医疗服务、预防癌症患者感染传播的具体预防措施、心理影响及其对生活质量的影响。在一项调查中，我们收集了204份反馈，该调查评估了新冠疫情期间一家三级医疗机构对癌症患儿治疗的影响。大多数患者正在接受白血病/淋巴瘤的持续化疗。这些患者中的大多数（60.5%）报告称，由于疫情导致医院取消预约，他们接受的治疗出现了延迟。尽管我们队列中的大多数患者抱怨治疗延迟，但幸运的是，没有一次延迟导致死亡。在全球实施封锁和保持社交距离以帮助平缓新冠疫情曲线的背景下，远程医疗已被证明对于保持患者及其医疗服务提供者之间的联系和安全至关重要。在新冠疫情期间，儿童还面临着诸如心理社会问题等其他多重困难。我们的长期目标是制定新的项目，使癌症患儿能够在疫情期间成功度过难关。
