ArticleJournal of cancer policy2022
Association between COVID-19 burden and delays to diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients in England.
Article in Journal of cancer policy, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- COVID-19's disruptions to cancer care pathways and widening of health inequalities in the UK: a systematic review.BMC health services research · 2026Pooled it
- Measuring performance in cancer services during COVID-19 and beyond: a novel case throughput metric using NHS Cancer Waiting Times data.Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Epidemiological Shifts and Trends From 2009 to 2023 in Hospital Admissions for Ruptured Aortic Aneurysms and Aortic Dissections in Austria: Retrospective, Population-Wide Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2026Article
- An approach to COVID‑19 and oncology: From impact, staging and management to vaccine outcomes in cancer patients: A systematic review and meta‑analysis.Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- Real-World Evidence of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Lung Cancer Survival: Canadian Perspective.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2024Article
- Service implications of the revised 2022 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) follow-up guidelines for stage IA-IIC melanoma.The British journal of surgery · 2024Article
- Modelling the economic burden of SARS-CoV-2 infection in health care workers in four countries.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Delayed diagnosis resulting in increased disease burden in multiple myeloma: the legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic.Blood cancer journal · 2023Article
- Article
- Impact of COVID-19 on cancer care pathways in a comprehensive cancer center in northern Italy.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Editorial: The effects of COVID-19 on cancer research methods & strategies.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has been highly disruptive for cancer care. Here, we examined the effect COVID-19 had on performance of the 62-day Cancer Waiting Time (CWT) target set by the National Health Service (NHS) in England.
methodsData were retrospectively obtained on COVID-19 hospitalisations and CWT for NHS hospitals in England (n = 121). We produced a 'COVID-19 burden' to describe the proportion of each provider's beds occupied with COVID-19 patients. COVID-19 burden was examined against CWT performance for 1st April - 30th May 2020 (Wave 1), and 1st October - 30th November 2020 (Wave 2). Two-tailed Spearman correlations were used to identify relationships between COVID-19 burden and CWT performance amongst different referral (i.e., 2-week-wait (2 W W) and internal specialist) and tumour types. Significantly correlated variables were further examined using linear regression models.
resultsCOVID-19 burden was negatively associated with the percentage of 2 W W pathway referrals that met the CWT target in Wave 1 (r= -0.30, p = 0.001) and Wave 2 (r= -0.21, p = 0.02). These associations were supported by the results from our linear regression models (B for wave 1: -0.71; 95 %CI: -1.03 to -0.40; B for wave 2: -0.38; 95 %CI: -0.68 to -0.07). No associations were found between COVID-19 burden and internal specialist referrals or tumour type.
conclusionIncreased COVID-19 burden was associated with lower compliance with CWT targets amongst urgent referrals from primary care in England. This will likely be an ongoing issue due to the backlog of patients awaiting investigations and treatment. POLICY SUMMARY: As the number of cancer referrals improve, we highlight the need for changes to primary and secondary care to manage the backlog within cancer diagnostic services to alleviate the impact of COVID-19.
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