BACKGROUND To understand how health care delays may affect breast cancer detection, the authors quantified changes in breast‐related preventive and diagnostic care during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. METHODS Eligible women (N = 39,444) were aged ≥18 years and received a screening mammogram, diagnostic mammogram, or breast biopsy between January 1, 2019 and September 30, 2020, at 7 academic and community breast imaging facilities in North Carolina. Changes in the number of mammography or breast biopsy examinations after March 3, 2020 (the first COVID‐19 diagnosis in North Carolina) were evaluated and compared with the expected numbers based on trends between January 1, 2019 and March 2, 2020. Changes in the predicted mean monthly number of examinations were estimated using interrupted time series models. Differences in patient characteristics were tested using least squares means regression. RESULTS Fewer examinations than expected were received after the pandemic's onset. Maximum reductions occurred in March 2020 for screening mammography (−85.1%; 95% CI, −100.0%, −70.0%) and diagnostic mammography (−48.9%; 95% CI, −71.7%, −26.2%) and in May 2020 for biopsies (−40.9%; 95% CI, −57.6%, −24.3%). The deficit decreased gradually, with no significant difference between observed and expected numbers by July 2020 (diagnostic mammography) and August 2020 (screening mammography and biopsy). Several months after the pandemic's onset, women who were receiving care had higher predicted breast cancer risk (screening mammography, P < .001) and more commonly lacked insurance (diagnostic mammography, P < .001; biopsy, P < .001) compared with the prepandemic population. CONCLUSIONS Pandemic‐associated deficits in the number of breast examinations decreased over time. Utilization differed by breast cancer risk and insurance status, but not by age or race/ethnicity. Long‐term studies are needed to clarify the contribution of these trends to breast cancer disparities.

Increasing demands for hospitals to be more efficient mean that patients attending for an operation are generally admitted on the day of surgery. As a result, healthcare professionals have little time to talk to the patient to ascertain his or her wellbeing, to check for any signs of anxiety and ask whether the patient requires further information about the forthcoming procedure. Healthcare professionals should be encouraged to use appropriate interventions to identify and assess anxious patients. There are several instruments available to measure the patient's level of pre-operative anxiety. This article reviews the Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale, which is easy for patients to complete and may help to identify which individuals need extra support.

Increasing demands for hospitals to be more efficient mean that patients attending for an operation are generally admitted on the day of surgery. As a result, healthcare professionals have little time to talk to the patient to ascertain his or her wellbeing, to check for any signs of anxiety and ask whether the patient requires further information about the forthcoming procedure. Healthcare professionals should be encouraged to use appropriate interventions to identify and assess anxious patients. There are several instruments available to measure the patient's level of pre-operative anxiety. This article reviews the Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale, which is easy for patients to complete and may help to identify which individuals need extra support.

The relationship between child and adult psychiatric illness, though of fundamental importance, has received scant attention, perhaps because of the split which exists between the study and treatment of children and of adults.