Association between COVID-19 Burden, Population Vaccination Status, and Urologic Oncology Surgery Volume: A National...

Area of Science:

• Urologic Oncology
• Epidemiology
• Public Health

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic initially disrupted urologic oncology surgeries.
• The impact of vaccination and ongoing pandemic conditions on surgical volumes remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between COVID-19 burden, vaccination status, and urologic oncology surgical volumes in Israel.
• To analyze trends in surgical volumes in relation to pandemic waves and public health measures.

Main Methods:

• Multi-center cross-sectional study of 7327 urologic oncology surgeries from January 2019 to December 2021.
• Utilized data from five tertiary centers and the Israeli Ministry of Health database.
• Correlated surgical volumes with COVID-19 hospitalizations, vaccination rates, new case numbers, and the Oxford Stringency Index.

Main Results:

• A trend of increasing urologic oncology surgery volumes was observed alongside COVID-19 wave peaks.
• Total monthly surgical volumes showed a negative correlation with COVID-19 hospitalizations and the Oxford Stringency Index.
• No significant correlation was found between vaccination rates or new COVID-19 cases and monthly surgical volumes.

Conclusions:

• The Israeli healthcare system demonstrated gradual acclimation to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Despite acclimation, COVID-19 hospitalizations and stringency of restrictions negatively impacted urologic oncology surgical volumes.
• Population vaccination status did not appear to be a determining factor in surgical volume fluctuations during the study period.