Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34994804›Full record

ArticleStrahlentherapie und Onkologie : Organ der Deutschen Rontgengesellschaft ... [et al]2022

Shift of radiotherapy use during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic? An analysis of German inpatient data.

Daniel Medenwald, Thomas Brunner, Hans Christiansen, Ulrich Kisser, Sina Mansoorian, Dirk Vordermark, Hans-Ulrich Prokosch, Susanne A Seuchter, Lorenz A Kapsner, our MII research group

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Strahlentherapie und Onkologie : Organ der Deutschen Rontgengesellschaft ... [et al], 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on oncological care in Germany: rapid review.Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology · 2023
    Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Daniel MedenwaldDepartment of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital Halle (Saale), Ernst-Grube-Straße 40, 06120, Halle (Saale), Germany. Daniel.medenwald@uk-halle.de.
Thomas BrunnerDepartment of Radiation Oncology, University Medical Center Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.
Hans ChristiansenDepartment of Radiation Oncology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Ulrich KisserDepartment of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Clinic Halle, Halle, Germany.
Sina MansoorianDepartment of Radiation Oncology, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany.
Dirk VordermarkDepartment of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital Halle (Saale), Ernst-Grube-Straße 40, 06120, Halle (Saale), Germany.
Hans-Ulrich ProkoschChair of Medical Informatics, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany.
Susanne A SeuchterMedical Center for Information and Communication Technology, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.
Lorenz A KapsnerMedical Center for Information and Communication Technology, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.
our MII research group

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo assess the change in inpatient radiotherapy related to COVID-19 lockdown measures during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020.

methodsWe included cases hospitalized between January 1 and August 31, 2018-2020, with a primary ICD-10 diagnosis of C00-C13, C32 (head and neck cancer, HNC) and C53 (cervical cancer, CC). Data collection was conducted within the Medical Informatics Initiative. Outcomes were fractions and admissions. Controlling for decreasing hospital admissions during holidays, calendar weeks of 2018/2019 were aligned to Easter 2020. A lockdown period (LP; 16/03/2020-02/08/2020) and a return-to-normal period (RNP; 04/05/2020-02/08/2020) were defined. The study sample comprised a control (admission 2018/19) and study cohort (admission 2020). We computed weekly incidence and IR ratios from generalized linear mixed models.

resultsWe included 9365 (CC: 2040, HNC: 7325) inpatient hospital admissions from 14 German university hospitals. For CC, fractions decreased by 19.97% in 2020 compared to 2018/19 in the LP. In the RNP the reduction was 28.57% (p < 0.001 for both periods). LP fractions for HNC increased by 10.38% (RNP: 9.27%; p < 0.001 for both periods). Admissions for CC decreased in both periods (LP: 10.2%, RNP: 22.14%), whereas for HNC, admissions increased (LP: 2.25%, RNP: 1.96%) in 2020. Within LP, for CC, radiotherapy admissions without brachytherapy were reduced by 23.92%, whereas surgery-related admissions increased by 20.48%. For HNC, admissions with radiotherapy increased by 13.84%, while surgery-related admissions decreased by 11.28% in the same period.

conclusionRelated to the COVID-19 lockdown in an inpatient setting, radiotherapy for HNC treatment became a more frequently applied modality, while admissions of CC cases decreased.

Indexed as

COVID-19PandemicsCommunicable Disease ControlHumansInpatientsSARS-CoV-2AdmissionsCovid-19 pandemicGermanyLockdownRadiotherapy

Identifiers

PMID34994804
PMCPMC8739685

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Registered trials

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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.