Thyroid Unit, Endocrine Division, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2022 Oct 5;13:995329. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2022.995329. eCollection 2022.
The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up visits of patients with thyroid cancer. However, the magnitude with which these restrictions affected the Brazilian health care is still unknown.
Retrospective analysis of thyroid cancer-related procedures performed in the Brazilian public health system from 2019 to 2021. Data were retrieved from the Department of Informatics of the Unified Health System (DATASUS). The following procedures were evaluated: fine-needle aspiration biopsies (FNABs), oncologic thyroidectomies, and radioiodine (RAI) therapies for thyroid cancer. The year of 2019 served as baseline control.
Compared with 2019, FNABs, oncologic thyroidectomies, and RAI therapies performed in 2020 decreased by 29%, 17% and 28%, respectively. In 2021, compared with 2019, FNABs increased by 2%, and oncologic thyroidectomies and RAI therapies decreased by 5% and 25%, respectively. Most pronounced reductions were observed in the first months of the pandemic. In April 2020, FNABs decreased by 67%, oncologic thyroidectomies by 45%, and RAI therapies by 75%. In 2021, RAI therapies were the only procedure with a statistically significant decrease.
The restrictions to public health care during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a significant reduction in diagnostic and treatment procedures for thyroid cancer in Brazil. The effects of these transitory gaps in thyroid cancer care, due to COVID-19, are still unclear.
COVID-19 大流行延迟了甲状腺癌患者的诊断、治疗和随访。然而，这些限制对巴西医疗保健的影响程度仍不清楚。
回顾性分析 2019 年至 2021 年巴西公共卫生系统中与甲状腺癌相关的程序。数据从统一卫生系统信息部（DATASUS）中检索。评估了以下程序：细针抽吸活检（FNAB）、肿瘤性甲状腺切除术和甲状腺癌的放射性碘（RAI）治疗。2019 年作为基线对照。
与 2019 年相比，2020 年 FNAB、肿瘤性甲状腺切除术和 RAI 治疗分别减少了 29%、17%和 28%。2021 年，与 2019 年相比，FNAB 增加了 2%，肿瘤性甲状腺切除术和 RAI 治疗分别减少了 5%和 25%。大流行的最初几个月观察到最明显的减少。2020 年 4 月，FNAB 减少了 67%，肿瘤性甲状腺切除术减少了 45%，RAI 治疗减少了 75%。2021 年，RAI 治疗是唯一一项统计学上显著减少的程序。
COVID-19 大流行期间对公共医疗保健的限制导致巴西甲状腺癌的诊断和治疗程序显著减少。由于 COVID-19，这些短暂的甲状腺癌治疗中断的影响仍不清楚。
