OBJECTIVE: To understand if COVID-19 pandemic impacts on delays in non-metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer diagnosis and in the beginning/development of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, as well as on changes in treatment plan to Paclitaxel intensification doses, impaired patients’ quality of life and mental health. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study of 67 women diagnosed with non-metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer during the first sixteen months of COVID-19 pandemic and receiving neoadjuvant treatment due to pandemic impossibility of immediate definitive cancer surgery following the neoplasm diagnosis. Sociodemographic, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Scale - General, Beck Anxiety and Depression Inventory were used for outcomes assessment. Inferential analysis was performed by Mann-Whitney, Pearson's chi-squared, and Fisher's exact tests. The adopted significance was 5%. RESULTS: The study revealed that the oncological diagnosis delays caused a worsening of the patients' physical (8 x 21; p = 0.001), functional (13 x 21; p = 0.03) and general (61 x 83; p = 0.004) well-being; retardment in the beginning of neoadjuvant chemotherapy decreased physical well-being (13 x 21; p = 0.01). Changes in treatment plan, to Paclitaxel doses intensification, had a negative effect on functional well-being (20 x 25.5; p = 0.04). COVID-19 pandemic impacts on neoplasm diagnosis and neoadjuvant treatment delays were also associated with psychosocial manifestations, including higher levels of severe anxiety (60% x 14.5%; p = 0.03 and 40% x 14%; p = 0.04) and depression (40% x 3.2%; p = 0.004 and 60% x 5.3%; p = 0.03) respectively. CONCLUSION: The present study shows that COVID-19 pandemic impacts on non-metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer patients’ diagnosis and neoadjuvant chemotherapy impaired patients' quality of life and mental health.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.