ArticleBMC health services research2022
Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on diagnostic pathology in the Netherlands.
Article in BMC health services research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Dutch Nationwide Pathology Databank and its central role in health research.Journal of pathology informatics · 2026Article
- Pandemic Disruptions to Private Pathology Testing Uptake in Australia, 2019-2024.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Medicolegal autopsy analysis during Covid-19 pandemic in India.Bioinformation · 2025Article
- Impact on the Volume of Pathology Reports Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in SEER Cancer Registries.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2023Article
- Health Research and Education during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Australian Clinician and Researcher Perspective.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Changes in the quality of cancer care as assessed through performance indicators during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020: a scoping review.BMC health services research · 2022Article
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on diagnosis and treatment of patients with soft tissue and bone sarcomas or aggressive benign musculoskeletal diseases: A single-center retrospective study (SarCorD study).Frontiers in oncology · 2022Article
- Teaching lessons learnt by civil-engineering teachers from the COVID-19 pandemic at the University of Burgos, Spain.PloS one · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has a huge impact on healthcare provided. The nationwide pathology registry of the Netherlands, PALGA, offers an outstanding opportunity to measure this impact for diseases in which pathology examinations are involved.
methodsPathology specimen numbers in 2020 were compared with specimen numbers in 2019 for 5 periods of 4 weeks, representing two lockdowns and the periods in between, taking into account localization, procedure and benign versus malignant diagnosis.
resultsThe largest decrease was seen during the first lockdown (spring 2020), when numbers of pathology reports declined up to 88% and almost all specimen types were affected. Afterwards each specimen type showed its own dynamics with a decrease during the second lockdown for some, while for others numbers remained relatively low during the whole year. Generally, for most tissue types resections, cytology and malignant diagnoses showed less decrease than biopsies and benign diagnoses. A significant but small catch-up (up to 17%) was seen for benign cervical cytology, benign resections of the lower gastro-intestinal tract, malignant skin resections and gallbladder resections.
conclusionThe COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant effect on pathology diagnostics in 2020. This effect was most pronounced during the first lockdown, diverse for different anatomical sites and for cytology compared with histology. The data presented here can help to assess the consequences on (public) health and provide a starting point in the discussion on how to make the best choices in times of scarce healthcare resources, considering the impact of both benign and malignant disease on quality of life.
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