ArticleCancer2022
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on diagnosis of new cancers: A national multicenter study of the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System.
Article in Cancer, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
64 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 108 citations in OpenAlex.
- The multifaceted impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on colorectal cancer care: a systematic review of management disruptions, stage migration, and survival outcomes.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Pooled it
- Longitudinal trends of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy in geriatric hospital units in Germany.European geriatric medicine · 2026Article
- Prostate Cancer Screening Among Traditionally Underserved Populations at a Large Public Safety-Net Institution.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- A deep learning model to dynamically predict cancer-associated thromboembolism in large-scale healthcare systems.NPJ digital medicine · 2026Article
- A stochastic programming approach for dynamic allocation of bed capacity and assignment of patients to collaborating hospitals during pandemic outbreaks.Health care management science · 2026Article
- Direct and indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality and critical care utilization in South Korea.Acute and critical care · 2026Article
- National trends in bone-metastatic prostate cancer mortality in the United States, 1999-2024: a multiple-cause-of-death analysis with projections to 2040.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- The COVID-19 pandemic increased the incidence of newly diagnosed cancers: evidence from a large cohort study in Southern Italy.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- The Importance of Treatment Modality in Veterans with Opioid Use Disorder: Implications for Virtual Care.Community mental health journal · 2025Article
- Disparities in Colorectal Cancer Screening and Diagnoses in the COVID Era: A Study of the VA Health System.Annals of surgical oncology · 2025Article
- Integrated health systems and medical care quality during the COVID-19 pandemic.Health services research · 2025Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Gut Cancer Admissions and Management: A Comparative Study of Two Pandemic Years to a Similar Pre-Pandemic Period.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Cutaneous Melanoma in a Public Health Service in Brazil.The Journal of clinical and aesthetic dermatology · 2025Article
- Prevalence and Outcomes of Emergency Presentations of Colorectal Cancer in Veterans Affairs Health Care System.Digestive diseases and sciences · 2025Article
- Clinical Remission Rates in Patients With Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Before and After the Onset of the COVID 19 Pandemic in an Integrated Healthcare Delivery System.Cancer management and research · 2025Article
- The COVID-19 Pandemic's Effect on Preventive Imaging.AJPM focus · 2024Article
- Racial and Ethnic Differences in Prostate Cancer Epidemiology Across Disease States in the VA.JAMA network open · 2024Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Lockdown on Cancer Diagnoses Using Swiss Cantonal Cancer Registry Data.Cancers · 2024Article
- ESMO Resilience Task Force recommendations to manage psychosocial risks, optimise well-being, and reduce burnout in oncology.ESMO open · 2024Article
- The COVID-19 pandemic and associated declines in cancer incidence by race/ethnicity and census-tract level SES, rurality, and persistent poverty status.Cancer medicine · 2024Article
4 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused disruptions in treatment for cancer. Less is known about its impact on new cancer diagnoses, where delays could cause worsening long-term outcomes. This study quantifies decreases in encounters related to prostate, lung, bladder and colorectal cancers, procedures that facilitate their diagnosis, and new diagnoses of those cancers in the COVID era compared to pre-COVID era.
methodsAll encounters at Veterans' Affairs facilities nationwide from 2016 through 2020 were reviewed. The authors quantified trends in new diagnoses of cancer and in procedures facilitating their diagnosis, from January 1, 2018 onward. Using 2018 to 2019 as baseline, reductions in procedures and new cancer diagnoses in 2020 were estimated. Calculated absolute and percentage differences in annual volume and observed-to-expected volume ratios were calculated. Heat maps and funnel plots of volume changes were generated.
resultsFrom 2018 through 2020, there were 4.1 million cancer-related encounters, 3.9 million relevant procedures, and 251,647 new cancers diagnosed. Compared to the annual averages in 2018 through 2019, colonoscopies in 2020 decreased by 45% whereas prostate biopsies, chest computed tomography scans, and cystoscopies decreased by 29%, 10%, and 21%, respectively. New cancer diagnoses decreased by 13% to 23%. These drops varied by state and continued to accumulate despite reductions in pandemic-related restrictions.
conclusionThe authors identified substantial reductions in procedures used to diagnose cancer and subsequent reductions in new diagnoses of cancer across the United States because of the COVID-19 pandemic. A nomogram is provided to identify and resolve these unmet health care needs and avoid worse long-term cancer outcomes. LAY SUMMARY: The disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have led to substantial reductions in new cancers being diagnosed. This study quantifies those reductions in a national health care system and offers a method for understanding the backlog of cases and the resources needed to resolve them.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.