Anticipating the COVID-19-related surge in cancer care demand is urgent in Latin America and the Caribbean
Ce dossier présente un ensemble d'articles concernant la prise en charge des cancers durant la crise sanitaire liée au COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted regular health services in every health system worldwide, and cancer care is no exception. In Latin America and the Caribbean, cancer services have been reported to be foregone or delayed, including first-time visits to oncology services, pathology, cancer surgery, chemotherapy, and screening tests, with similar findings in the paediatric cancer field. The study by Zachary J Ward and colleagues published in The Lancet Oncology goes a step further; using data from five cancer sites in Chile, their study assesses the future effects of delayed diagnosis on cancer outcomes. The study estimates that an overburden of 14% of cancer diagnoses is already starting in 2021, with worse cancer stage distribution, predicting an excess in cancer deaths of 10·8% in 2022–24 compared with a counterfactual scenario with no COVID-19. This analysis does not consider eventual treatment delays or issues with quality of care that might further increase these projected negative trends for Chilean patients with cancer. Further, the trends might be worse for marginalised and minority population groups, such as those from indigenous communities.
The Lancet Oncology , commentaire en libre accès, 2020