Quality of life in patients with cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic – a Danish cross-sectional study (COPICADS)

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is an international public health crisis. The risk of getting an infection with COVID-19 might impact the emotional well-being in patients with cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate quality of life (QoL) for patients with cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients and methods: A cross-sectional survey, including questions about demographics, concerns of COVID-19 impact on cancer treatment and outpatient clinic visits, and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-C30 questionnaire was sent to patients with cancer at the

Balance on slack line; diagnostic intensity and patient safety during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

“…This is parallel to the observation of how some patients with cancer refrain from consultations as reported by Jeppesen and colleagues in the current issue [3]. As the vast majority of patients with cancer are diagnosed following presenting of symptoms to a general practitioner (GP) [25][26][27], a valid starting point to counteract the negative impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on the diagnosis of cancer is to encourage to contact a GP when experiencing symptoms as advocated in the current issue [2,3,6]. However, encouraging patients to contact their GP when experiencing symptoms suggestive of cancer during a pandemic also raises questions related to optimal methods to ensure adequate health-seeking patterns.…”

“…The reasons for the decline in cancer cases diagnosed are multifactorial, but a possibility often put forward is that patients refrain from seeking health care in fear of contracting SAR-CoV-2 [23,24]. This is parallel to the observation of how some patients with cancer refrain from consultations as reported by Jeppesen and colleagues in the current issue [3]. As the vast majority of patients with cancer are diagnosed following presenting of symptoms to a general practitioner (GP) [25][26][27], a valid starting point to counteract the negative impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on the diagnosis of cancer is to encourage to contact a GP when experiencing symptoms as advocated in the current issue [2,3,6].…”

“…Unfortunately, the multiple threats from the pandemic to cancer patients have proven to be real. In this issue, six articles provide examples of the effects of cancer management during the pandemic [2][3][4][5][6][7].…”

“…Defining the optimal balance between the benefit of timely diagnosis of cancer and risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 in the elderly and frail and in patients with comorbidities is difficult [22]. Increased use of virtual consultations (telemedicine) has been argued to counteract this [2,3,28], with an increased use already seen [24]. Virtual consultations are an important tool during a pandemic but should be adopted carefully, as it may decrease the use of pathology, radiology, and urgent referrals for suspected cancer [28].…”

Health-related quality of life of patients with haematologic cancer during COVID-19 and their opinions on telehealth consultations – a Danish single site cross-sectional survey

“…This is cause for concern, as a study performed during the outbreak of corona virus-1 (SARS) showed that fear of SARS and social distancing led to greater anxiety, depression and feeling of loneliness amongst patients [7]. However, a recent survey of Danish oncologic cancer patients' health-related Quality of Life (QoL) during the COVID-19 pandemic [8] showed that global QoL and emotional functioning, as assessed using the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) core QoL questionnaire (QLQ-C30) [9], were not worse than that of the general Danish cancer population before the outbreak of COVID-19 [10]. Of note, however, the EORTC QLQ-C30 does not explicitly measure general anxiety disorder (GAD), which may explain the absence difference between cancer patients' health-related QoL before and during COVID-19.…”