NDLI: Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on emergency hospital cancer admissions in a UK region

Content Provider	Springer Nature : BioMed Central
Author	Mitchell, Helen Alford, Ben S. O’Hare, Simon O’Callaghan, Eamon Fox, Colin Gavin, Anna T.
Abstract	Background The pandemic disrupted society and health services through lockdowns and resource reallocation to care for COVID-19 patients. Reductions in numbers of cancer patients having surgery, being diagnosed pathologically or via 2-week wait, and screening programs pauses have been described. The effect on emergency presentation, which represents an acute episode with poor outcomes, has not been investigated. This study explored the pandemic’s impact on emergency hospital admissions for cancer patients in a UK region. Methods Hospital discharge data for cancer patients in Northern Ireland, which included route to admission, were analysed for the pandemic era in 2020 compared to averages for March to December 2017–2019, focusing on volume and route of emergency admissions by demography and tumour site. Findings Compared with the pre-pandemic era, the number of cancer emergency admissions fell by 12·3% in 2020. Emergency admissions for cancer were significantly reduced when COVID-19 levels were highest (− 18·5% in April and − 16.8% in October). Females (− 15·8%), urban residents (− 13·2%), and age groups 0 to 49 and 65–74 years old (− 17%) experienced the largest decreases as did those with haematological (− 14·7%), brain and CNS (− 27·9%), and lung cancers(− 14·3%). Significant reductions in referrals from outpatient departments (− 51%) and primary care (− 43%) (p < 0·001) were counterbalanced by admissions from other routes including confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infection (increase 83·6%). Interpretation Reductions in emergency admissions, and pathologically diagnosed cancers, as reported by the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR), indicate undiagnosed patients in the community which has implications for future workloads and survival. Data suggest undiagnosed cases may be higher for haematological, brain and CNS, and lung cancers and among females. Efforts should be made to encourage people with symptoms to present for diagnosis or reassurance. Funding The NICR is funded by the Public Health Agency of Northern Ireland. This work was supported by Macmillan Cancer Support and uses data collected by health services as part of their care and support functions.
Related Links	https://bmccancer.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12885-022-09932-3.pdf
Ending Page	8
Page Count	8
Starting Page	1
File Format	HTM / HTML
ISSN	14712407
DOI	10.1186/s12885-022-09932-3
Journal	BMC Cancer
Issue Number	1
Volume Number	22
Language	English
Publisher	BioMed Central
Publisher Date	2022-08-04
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	Cancer Research Oncology Surgical Oncology Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Biomedicine Medicine Public Health Emergency admissions cancer COVID-19 Medicine/Public Health
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Cancer Research Oncology Genetics
Journal Impact Factor	3.4/2023
5-Year Journal Impact Factor	3.8/2023

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

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