The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of systemic therapy for patients diagnosed with cancer in England: A population-based study with a focus on breast and lung cancer.

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic caused substantial disruption to the delivery of cancer treatment. We aimed to describe the impact on the use of systemic anti-cancer therapy (SACT) in England with a focus on the treatment of breast and lung cancer.

METHODS

We identified patients newly diagnosed with cancer between January 2019 and December 2020 from the National Cancer Registration Dataset. We describe the changes in the number and stage distribution of patients, and the proportion receiving SACT within 12 months of diagnosis of breast and lung cancer.

RESULTS

An estimated 7704 fewer breast cancer patients and 2286 fewer lung cancer patients were newly diagnosed in 2020 compared to 2019. This was concordant with a reduction in the number of SACT administrations delivered within 12 months post-diagnosis. However, an increased proportion received SACT from April to December 2020 for patients diagnosed with breast cancer, which was not seen for lung cancer patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Changes in the delivery of SACT were largely driven by a reduction in the number of patients who were diagnosed with cancer in 2020. An increased proportion of breast cancer patients treated with SACT likely reflects the increased proportion of patients who were diagnosed with stage III and stage IV disease.