Impact Of COVID-19 Distancing Measures On Radiation Oncology Treatments

Background and objectives:In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals and clinics worldwide were forced to postpone or cancel patient visits and treatments.The purpose of this research was to examine whether lockdown measures during the pandemic were associated with significant reductions in radiation oncology treatments given across three treatment centers. Methods:A retrospective chart review encompassing data from 2017 to 2020 was conducted on medical billing records for three radiation oncology practices in a medium-sized metropolitan area in the United States.Quantitative data was collected on the volume of treatments given at the centers in each of the four years of the study.Only treatments and visits that involved direct patient interaction were utilized in the statistical analysis.Qualitative data was collected via interviews with Radiation Oncologists who provided treatments for the study population.Results: A Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance (RM ANOVA) with a Greenhouse-Geisser Correction was used to determine if the volume of radiation treatments differed in the first six months of the years spanning 2017 to 2020.An RM ANOVA revealed a significant main effect of year, [F (2.3, 11.59) = 6.7, p <0.01].Significant differences in treatment volume were observed between the year 2020 and each of the previous three years (p < 0.05).No other comparisons between years reached or approached statistical significance.Results from qualitative interviews suggest that the statistically significant decrease in radiation oncology treatments was likely due to diagnostic delays resulting from the lockdown. Conclusion:In 2020, fewer persons were screened for cancer, resulting in fewer cancer diagnoses.Physicians interviewed believed that this resulted in fewer persons with cancer receiving needed radiation treatments.Research has shown that delays in diagnosis and treatment lead to increases in late-stage cancer diagnosis and mortality.It is essential for public health policymakers to ensure that the cure is not worse than the disease.