Ferrari Anna, Sanchis-Gomar Fabian, Mattiuzzi Camilla, Henry Brandon M, Lippi Giuseppe
Service of Laboratory Medicine, University Hospital of Verona, Verona, Italy.
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Valencia, Spain.
EJIFCC. 2021 Feb 28;32(1):69-77. eCollection 2021 Feb.
Although the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is directly contributing to negatively affect global health and fitness, the restrictive measures applied for containing the outbreaks are also impacting detection and management of many diseases, including cancers. This study aimed to establish if and how the COVID-19 outbreak may have impacted the practice of routine prostate cancer screening in Verona, Italy.
We searched the laboratory information system of the Service of Laboratory Medicine of the University Hospitals of Verona to identify all test requests for total prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and vitamin D (Vit D; i.e., the locally most requested immunochemical test) for outpatients during the last five years (December 10, 2016, to December 10, 2020). The weekly requests for these tests placed between February 25 and December 9, 2020, were compared to those placed during the same period of previous four years (i.e., 2016-2019).
The volume of test requests for both Vit D and PSA did not differ in 2020 compared to previous four years. However, a dramatic decline was observed during the local lockdown period (between March 10 and May 17, 2020), with median decrease of 76% for Vit D and 62% for total PSA, respectively. This reduction was compensated by 13% increase for Vit D and 43% increase for total PSA in post-lockdown period.
These results show that the lockdown period established during the first peak of the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy's Verona province was associated with a dramatic decrease in routine prostate cancer screenings.
尽管当前的2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行直接对全球健康和健身产生负面影响，但为控制疫情而采取的限制措施也在影响包括癌症在内的许多疾病的检测和管理。本研究旨在确定COVID-19疫情是否以及如何影响意大利维罗纳市常规前列腺癌筛查的实施情况。
我们检索了维罗纳大学医院实验室医学服务部的实验室信息系统，以识别过去五年（2016年12月10日至2020年12月10日）门诊患者的所有总前列腺特异性抗原（PSA）和维生素D（Vit D；即当地最常要求的免疫化学检测）检测请求。将2020年2月25日至12月9日期间这些检测的每周请求与前四年（即2016 - 2019年）同期的请求进行比较。
与前四年相比，2020年Vit D和PSA的检测请求量没有差异。然而，在当地封锁期间（2020年3月10日至5月17日）观察到显著下降，Vit D和总PSA的中位数分别下降了76%和62%。封锁后时期，Vit D增加了13%，总PSA增加了43%，弥补了这种减少。
这些结果表明，意大利维罗纳省在COVID-19疫情第一个高峰期间设立的封锁期与常规前列腺癌筛查的显著减少有关。
