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Quantifying the hidden impact of COVID-19 pandemic: The cytology perspective

Elham Yousefi1, Edmund S Cibas1, Jeffrey K Mito1

  • 1Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Cancer Cytopathology
|June 24, 2022
PubMed

Insights

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced cytology specimen collection, impacting timely diagnoses. This decline in gynecologic and non-gynecologic samples led to fewer identified malignant cases, highlighting delayed care.

Area of Science:

  • Medical diagnostics
  • Pathology
  • Public health

Background:

  • The COVID-19 pandemic's impact extends beyond mortality, affecting healthcare resources and patient mobility.
  • Non-COVID related diseases faced an increased burden due to pandemic-related disruptions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on diagnostic cytology.
  • To analyze trends in cytology specimen volume and diagnoses during the pandemic.

Main Methods:

  • Time series analysis of cytology specimens from January 2019 to April 2021.
  • Utilized moving averages, time trend analysis, and cross-correlation.

Main Results:

  • A sharp decrease in gynecologic (-89.4%) and non-gynecologic (-70.4%) cytology specimens occurred during the first pandemic peak.
  • A correlation was observed between sample numbers and COVID-19 cases in early 2020.
  • A smaller decline in specimens was noted during the second surge, but 154 fewer malignant cases were identified in the initial months.

Conclusions:

  • COVID-19 pandemic's effects include significant reductions in diagnostic cytology specimen volume.
  • This decrease has serious implications, potentially leading to delayed patient care and missed diagnoses.
  • The decline in specimen numbers and subsequent missed diagnoses were not fully recovered within the study period.
Abstract

Keywords:
coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)cytopathologymalignancy ratescreening programssevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

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