COVID-19 and Cervical Cancer: Analysis of the Hospital Cancer Registry of the National Cancer Institute in Rio de Janeiro

ABSTRACT

Introduction:  Cervical cancer remains a public health problem despite the possibility of screening and early diagnosis.

Objective:  Comparative analysis of 2,486 analytical and non-analytical patients referred to INCA only for treatment, with follow-up at the hospital of origin, admitted with cervical cancer between January 2017 and December 2021 at Hospital do Câncer II (HCII/INCA), using the Hospital-based Cancer Registry as database.

Method:  Quantitative and observational study divided into four groups: pre-pandemic analytical, pandemic analytical, pre-pandemic non-analytical and pandemic non-analytical. Five selected variables were analyzed descriptively: time between diagnosis and hospital admission, first treatment received at the hospital, disease status after first treatment, reason for non-treatment and staging. Pearson's chi-square test was utilized to verify the association of frequency variations between the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods.

Results:  Among analytical patients during the pandemic, there was a 34.1% increase in the proportion of patients admitted more than 61 days after diagnosis, 4.6% in referrals for therapeutic support and a 6.3% reduction in cases with complete remission of the disease after treatment. Among non-analytical patients during the pandemic, there was a 20.6% increase in the proportion of patients admitted in stage IV, 23.3% of patients who did not submit to any treatment due to disease progression or lack of clinical conditions and 12.1% of referrals for therapeutic support.

Conclusion:  The COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the disease and access to the health system.

Key words:
Uterine Cervical Neoplasms; Early Diagnosis; Patient Admission; COVID-19