Impact of coronavirus disease 2019 on the number of newly diagnosed cancer patients and examinations and surgeries performed for cancer in Japan: a nationwide study

Takeshi Terashima; Hiroshi Konishi; Yasunori Sato; Muneki Igarashi; Takafumi Yanagibashi; Ryo Konno; Hideyuki Saya; Yuichiro Doki; Tadao Kakizoe

doi:10.1186/s12885-022-10417-6

Impact of coronavirus disease 2019 on the number of newly diagnosed cancer patients and examinations and surgeries performed for cancer in Japan: a nationwide study

BMC Cancer. 2022 Dec 13;22(1):1303. doi: 10.1186/s12885-022-10417-6.

Authors

Takeshi Terashima¹, Hiroshi Konishi², Yasunori Sato³, Muneki Igarashi⁴, Takafumi Yanagibashi⁵, Ryo Konno⁶, Hideyuki Saya⁷, Yuichiro Doki⁸, Tadao Kakizoe²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Respiratory Medicine, Tokyo Dental College, Ichikawa General Hospital, 5-11-13 Sugano, Ichikawa, Chiba, 272-0824, Japan. terasima@tdc.ac.jp.
² Japan Cancer Society, Tokyo, Japan.
³ Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴ Department of Gastroenterology, Tokai University School of Medicine, Tokyo Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
⁵ Department of Gastroenterology, Kanagawa Prefectural Ashigarakami Hospital, Kanagawa, Japan.
⁶ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Jichi Medical University, Saitama Medical Center, Saitama, Japan.
⁷ Division of Gene Regulation, Institute for Advanced Medical Research, Graduate School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan.
⁸ Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has rapidly and dramatically influenced healthcare across Japan. However, the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of newly diagnosed cancer, surgical treatment, and diagnostic examination for cancer types have not been completely investigated all over Japan. This study aimed to analyze the number of cases before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: This retrospective study was a survey that asked to provide the number of cases diagnosed with gastric, colorectal, lung, breast, and cervical cancer between January 2019 and December 2020. The survey was sent to tertiary healthcare hospitals, including national cancer institutions, university hospitals, and general hospitals, all over Japan. Data obtained from 105 of 486 surveyed hospitals were evaluated, and the number of cases in each quarter in 2020 was compared with that in the equivalent quarter in 2019.

Results: In the second quarter (Q2), significant reductions were observed in the median number of newly diagnosed cases from 2019 to 2020: gastric cancer, 26.7% (43 vs. 32, p < 0.001); colorectal cancer, 17.9% (52 vs. 40, p < 0.001); lung cancer, 12.3% (53.5 vs. 47, p < 0.001); and breast cancer, 13.1% (43 vs. 35.5, p < 0.001). A significant reduction of 11.4% (9 vs. 8, p = 0.03) was observed in the third quarter (Q3) for cervical cancer. In Q2, the number of cases decreased by 30.9% (25 vs. 15, p < 0.001) for stage I gastric cancer, by 27.3% (12 vs. 9, p < 0.001) for stage I colorectal cancer, and by 17.6% (13 vs. 10, p < 0.001) for stage II breast cancer. The magnitude of reduction was significant for the localized stages of gastric, colorectal, and breast cancer according to diagnostic examinations in Q2 and surgical and endoscopic treatment in Q3 rather than that for lung or cervical cancer.

Conclusions: COVID-19 has prolonged collateral effects on cancer care, including examination, diagnosis, and surgery, with significant effects on gastric cancer, followed by colorectal, lung, breast, and cervical cancer in Japan.

Keywords: COVID-19; Cancer; Diagnosis; Examination; Surgery; Survey.

MeSH terms

Breast Neoplasms* / diagnosis
COVID-19* / epidemiology
Colorectal Neoplasms*
Female
Humans
Japan / epidemiology
Pandemics
Retrospective Studies
Stomach Neoplasms* / diagnosis
Uterine Cervical Neoplasms*