The impact of the COVID-19 pandemicon cancer patients

As overwhelmed health care systems are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, changes to oncology care havebeen implemented to minimize patients' exposure to the virus We aim to understand the impact of COVID-19 oncancer patients through a questionnaire completed by cancer patients or their caregivers From 3/24/2020 to4/15/2020, a total of 112 patients/caregivers completed the questionnaire Of the 112, 81 (72%) of those whocompleted the survey were the patients themselves, 14 (13%) were caregivers, and for 17 (15%) it was unknown The majority of patients (48%) were between the ages of 50 and 69, 13% were 70-79, and for 22% of the patients, their age was unknown 66 (59%) were females, 30 (27%) were male, and for 14% the sex was unknown Thirteentypes of cancers were reported;the most common cancer were breast, lung, and colorectal Most of the participants were from the US (70%) with 12 countries represented, including Italy (7%), Canada (4%), Australia (3%), and theUK (3%) Of the 112 patients and caregivers who completed the survey, 78 (70%) reported that they or the patientsthey care for were currently receiving cancer treatment Those not currently receiving cancer treatment reported thelast time they received treatment as far back as March 2008 to March 2020 Canceled or postponed appointmentsdue to COVID-19 were reported by 32 (29%) participants Thirteen (12%) reported treatment delay because ofCOVID-19 Six patients (5%) were newly diagnosed and had to make a treatment decision about a new cancerdiagnosis during the COVID-19 pandemic Twenty-one (19%) patients had to make a decision about a treatmentchange Eighty-three reported on whether COVID-19 affected any treatment decisions they had to make Of these83, 24 (29%) reported that COVID-19 affected their treatment decision, and 23 gave an explanation The mostcommon explanations of how COVID-19 affected treatment decisions were “changes to travel for treatment/changein place of treatment,” “changes in travel/living situations/other personal changes,” “changes to surveillance,“changes, delays, or not receiving treatment to decrease risk of COVID-19 infection,” “continued on treatment that isnot working,” and “did not continue to pursue a clinical trial ” Symptoms of COVID-19 (coughing, fever, shortness ofbreath) were reported by 16 (14%) patients and caregivers Six (5%) patients had COVID-19 testing, with onepatient still awaiting results, and all of the other five tested negative Increased anxiety about cancer treatment dueto COVID-19 was reported by 72 (64%) participants Personalized support through follow-ups was implemented inan attempt to help patients relieve some of their anxiety about their cancer treatment Overall, changes toappointments, treatment delays, and the impact of COVID-19 on treatment decisions were reported by patients andcaregivers A general sense of uncertainty about appointments and treatment plans was reported