Peer-reviewed article
COVD-02. COVID-19 AND CHILDHOOD CANCER CARE - THEMATIC ANALYSIS OF PUBLISHED SCIENTIFIC AND CLINICAL LITERATURE
Barton C ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This thematic analysis reviewed scientific and clinical literature from across the world to understand how COVID-19 affected children with cancer and their treatment. The review identified 172 studies from all continents, including from lower and middle income countries. Key impacts included treatment delays, disrupted outpatient services, diagnostic delays, and effects on healthcare workers and research. The authors concluded that while COVID-19 disrupted childhood cancer care globally, short-term treatment effects appeared minimal, though research conduct faced significant challenges.
Key points
- Literature reviewed included studies from all 5 continents with good representation from lower and middle income countries
- Major impacts included: decreased treatment regimens, disrupted outpatient clinics, delays in diagnosis and presentation, and national screening program interruptions
- COVID-19 affected healthcare professionals involved in childhood cancer care
- Research conduct and future research were identified as areas of greatest concern
- Global economic crisis resulting from COVID-19 had consequences for childhood cancer care provision
Limitations
This is a thematic analysis of published literature rather than primary research, so it describes what has been reported but cannot establish definitive causal relationships or measure actual outcomes in children. The analysis does not provide quantitative data on the magnitude of effects or comparative outcomes across countries.
Abstract
Abstract INTRODUCTION The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has affected modern medicine and healthcare provision profoundly. National and regional experiences with COVID-19 have been hugely variable across the globe, reflecting ethnic, governmental, cultural, economic and healthcare differences. This thematic analysis was performed to identify scientific and clinical literature relating to the impact of COVID-19 on children with cancer and treatment. METHODS The NHS Evidence portal was used to conduct a healthcare database advanced literature search. Duplicates were removed. Remaining results were screened using clear inclusion and exclusion criteria. RESULTS 172 results were identified and data extracted. Literature was identified from all 5 continents, with lower and middle income countries well represented. Key themes identified included: 1: Impact on patients already diagnosed, including decreased treatment regimens, impact on outpatient clinics, COVID susceptibility and travel restrictions; 2: Delays in presentation and diagnosis, and national screening programs; 3: The impact of COVID on healthcare professionals; 4: Impact on current and future research; 5: Consequence of global economic crisis on childhood cancer care; 6: Impact on long-term survivorship, late effects and surveillance monitoring. CONCLUSION COVID-19 has had a profound effect on health care, and the literature reflects the extent to which communities involved in childhood cancer care have worked together to minimise the impact. It is inevitable that there have been consequences of the pandemic on the treatment of existing patients, and the diagnosis of new ones, but evidence suggest these effects in the short term are minimal. The greatest concerns are for immediate and short-term research conduct.