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Global Health Econ Sustain COVID-19 pandemic and quality of life of cancer patients

and social distancing, which were later accompanied by (iii) How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact the early
strict lockdowns. diagnosis of the disease?
During the COVID-19 outbreak, individuals belonging (iv) Were there any differences in the quality of life of
to vulnerable groups, especially those afflicted with various patients with different forms of cancer during the
forms of cancer, experienced heightened repercussions. COVID-19 pandemic?
Cancer is a complex group of diseases whose prognosis is (v) What influence did the pandemic have on patient care
in developing countries?
affected by both early diagnosis and treatment (Li Wang
&Wang, 2021).With the outbreak of the pandemic, there 2. Method
was a notable shift in the operational dynamics of health-
care facilities, leading to delays in diagnosis and treatment. In the present study, an extensive search was conducted
In particular, due to the risk of cross-contamination from in Greek and international scientific literature on various
the virus and the heavy workload in hospitals, the majority recognized electronic and printed sources. The following
of surgeries were postponed, with only those deemed criteria were applied to each electronic source: (i) the
absolutely necessary being performed. Consequently, this studies have been published in the last 2 years; (ii) free
situation increased the risk of disease progression, resulting access to the studies (free full text); and (iii) the writing
in a decline in the survival rate of cancer patients (Li Wang language must be English during the literature search in
&Wang, 2021). In addition, to reduce the risk of COVID-19 the Greek electronic databases; the keywords “cancer,”
transmission, patients were often unable to have companions “COVID-19,” “quality of life,” and “developing countries”
from their support network present, further exacerbating the were used. In the English electronic databases, the
already tense psychological state of cancer patients. In general, keywords “cancer,” “COVID-19,” “quality of life,” and
a decline in emotional functioning and general quality of “developing countries” were entered using the BOOLEAN
life was observed in cancer patients during the COVID-19 strategy, specifically by employing the “AND” operator.
outbreak. The reduced emotional functioning and quality of Due to the subject of this review, there was no specific
life during the COVID-19 pandemic is concerning for the target population in terms of age and sex; therefore, no
entire population, especially cancer patients. Owing to the relevant criteria were used. The international terms were
severity of the disease, cancer patients may not have the also consistent with those identified in the MeSH (Medical
opportunity to improve their quality of life after the end of Subject Headings) catalogs, which are accessible through
the pandemic, which is a fact they are aware of, adding also the National Library of Medicine’s website at <http://www.
struggles to their mental health (Bartels et al., 2021). The ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh>. The specific search was carried
outbreak of COVID-19 has further exacerbated the financial out in the month of December 2022. The extraction of
crisis, resulting in a situation where many cancer patients the results of the systematic review was done using the
were unable to afford their treatments. PRISMA flow diagram.
In developing countries, the difficulties in managing The topic chosen for this review was influenced by
oncology patients during COVID-19 were greater due the significant impact of COVID-19 on a global level,
to insufficient financial resources and reduced medical especially on individuals belonging to vulnerable groups.
One of the main vulnerable groups is cancer patients, who
and nursing staff. Hence, it is evident that the protective have a higher risk of being affected compared to other
measures taken during the pandemic, although important groups. During the initial review of the literature, it was
for reducing the spread of the virus, had serious observed that Greek literature lags behind foreign-language
consequences, especially for the individuals who belonged literature. Therefore, we investigated how the COVID-19
to the vulnerable population.
pandemic affected the quality of life of cancer patients.
This systematic review assessed the impact of During the literature search, it was decided to investigate
COVID-19 pandemic on the quality of life of individuals different forms of cancer separately and how the pandemic
suffering from various forms of cancer at a physical- affected the patients suffering from it. The stages followed
psychological level and at the stage of their treatment for the collection of the bibliography were: (i) research
during the outbreak. The following questions formed the and collection of the bibliography; (ii) evaluation of the
basis of the documentation on the impact of COVID-19 literature based on the inclusion criteria and search terms
pandemic on individuals with different types of cancer: (keywords); (iii) discarding irrelevant studies based on
(i) What impact did the COVID-19 pandemic have on title and/or abstract; and (iv) reading relevant studies and
the psychology of cancer patients? gathering information in the initial literature review. Owing
(ii) How was cancer disease progression affected during to the large volume of results, all studies with a non-topic
the COVID-19 pandemic? title were discarded. Then, all abstracts of the studies with

Volume 2 Issue 2 (2024) 2 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.2636