Although mortality from Covid-19 is low in children, the side effects of this health crisis can be just as dramatic for them. According to one new study, published Wednesday by the journal The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, the pandemic “Has dramatically changed the way children with cancer are cared for around the world by creating barriers across the continuum of care”. The prioritization of patients infected with the coronavirus, combined with border lockdowns and restricted public transport, notably contributed “at delay cancer diagnoses infantile». These restrictions have also made access to treatment centers more complex and therefore “To obtaining quality care, including enrollment in clinical trials”.
“Our results suggest that the Covid-19 pandemic had a greater impact on pediatric cancer care globally than what studies focused on a single region suggested”, comments to AFP Daniel Moreira, one of the authors of this study. “Centers located in low and middle income countries have been particularly affected”, continues the one who works at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, an American establishment specializing in pediatric diseases.
The number of patients who have discontinued their treatment has increased
For this survey, 311 health professionals were interviewed between June and August 2020 in 213 establishments in 79 countries. The results of the study show that 78% of health facilities reported that their ability to provide care for children with cancer had been affected by the pandemic. The most frequently reported effects are disruptions in patient support and treatment, as well as in the availability of clinical staff.
43% of hospitals detected fewer new cancers than expected, a figure anything but reassuring since it suggests that they have escaped diagnosis. A third (34%) also noted an increase in the number of patients who discontinued their treatment. Another alarming data shows that 7% of these hospitals, mainly in poor countries, had completely closed their pediatric oncology department at one point or another, with an average shutdown of ten days.
Late presentation to hospitals
Regarding the consequences on the health of these young patients, 25% of the participants in the study think that“A child in their establishment had suffered from a serious complication which would not have occurred before the pandemic”. 20% also believe that the death of a patient occurred as a result of this health crisis. Late presentation to hospitals was the most frequently mentioned cause of these complications.
The survey also notes that health establishments have often been able to adapt to the pandemic, for example by setting up new procedures for services deemed essential, or for communication with patients and their families. “Although the Covid pandemic has created new obstacles for the care of childhood cancer, we have shown that we are a resilient community and that we can use in the future certain adaptations imposed by the pandemic”, assured Professor Laila Hessissen, from Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco, quoted in a press release from The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health. Many other studies have shown that the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the management of a multitude of diseases around the world.
– .
