Decrease in diagnoses, even interruption of treatments: the Covid pandemic has had a negative impact on services that treat childhood cancer around the world, in particular in less wealthy countries, according to a study published on Thursday, March 4 .
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"Our results suggest that the Covid-19 pandemic has had a greater impact on pediatric cancer care globally than studies focused on a single region suggested,"
commented Daniel Moreira, one of the authors. of this study published by
The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health
.
"Centers in low and middle income countries have been particularly affected,"
continued Dr Moreira, who works at St Jude Children's Research Hospital, an American institution specializing in pediatric diseases.
Fewer diagnoses
The authors of this study interviewed 311 health professionals working in 213 facilities in 79 countries (most of the hospitals were located in low and middle income countries).
According to the study, more than three-quarters (78%) of hospitals surveyed between June and August 2020 assured that pediatric cancer care had been affected by the pandemic.
Almost half (43%) were diagnosed with new cancers less than expected (suggesting that cancers were missed), and one-third (34%) noted an increase in the number of patients who were diagnosed with cancer. abandoned their treatment.
The survey also showed that 7% of these hospitals, mainly in poor countries, had completely closed their pediatric cancer department at one time or another, with an average closure time of ten days.
Many other studies have shown that the Covid pandemic has affected the management of a multitude of diseases around the world.
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However, this survey also concludes that hospitals have often been able to adapt to the pandemic, for example by setting up new procedures for services deemed essential, or for communication with patients and their families.
"Although the Covid pandemic has created new obstacles for the care of childhood cancer, we have shown that we are a resilient community and that we can use in the future certain adaptations imposed by the pandemic"
, assured Prof. Laila Hessissen, from Mohammed V University in Rabat in Morocco, quoted in a press release from The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health.