2nd Department of Lung Diseases and Tuberculosis, Medical University of Białystok,14 Żurawia Street, 15-540 Bialystok, Poland.
Department of Geriatrics, Medical University of Białystok, 27 Fabryczna Street, 15-471 Bialystok, Poland.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 15;20(2):1583. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20021583.
The COVID-19 pandemic poses a challenge to health systems worldwide. Limiting healthcare availability may delay early diagnosis and worsen the treatment effects of various diseases, including oncological diseases. We analyzed patients presenting to the 2nd Department of Lung Diseases and Tuberculosis in Białystok, Poland, with suspicion of lung cancer 12 months prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (pre-COVID-19) and, similarly, 12 months after the outbreak of the pandemic (mid-COVID). In total, 320 patients were analyzed-132 prior to and 188 after the COVID-19 outbreak. During the COVID-19 period, there was a lower percentage of patients presenting with ECOG performance status 0-1, with a noticeably increased percentage of patients with ECOG PS ≥2. The disease's clinical stage (CS) was higher on admission during COVID-19. We observed more use of immunotherapy and more deaths before the start of treatment during the COVID-19 period. These results provide insight into the early effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on lung cancer patients and underscore the importance of conducting further studies to assess the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on this population.
COVID-19 大流行对全球卫生系统构成挑战。限制医疗保健的可及性可能会延迟早期诊断，并恶化各种疾病（包括肿瘤疾病）的治疗效果。我们分析了波兰比亚韦斯托克第 2 肺病和结核病科在 COVID-19 大流行（大流行前）前 12 个月和大流行后 12 个月（大流行中期）因疑似肺癌就诊的患者。共有 320 例患者接受了分析-大流行前有 132 例，大流行后有 188 例。在 COVID-19 期间，ECOG 表现状态 0-1 的患者比例较低，而 ECOG PS≥2 的患者比例明显增加。COVID-19 期间入院时疾病的临床分期（CS）更高。我们观察到在 COVID-19 期间，在开始治疗之前，免疫疗法的使用更多，死亡人数更多。这些结果深入了解了 COVID-19 大流行对肺癌患者的早期影响，并强调了进行进一步研究以评估 COVID-19 大流行对该人群的长期影响的重要性。
