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

between subsequent treatments allows cancer cells to systematically monitored for possible consequences in the
multiply, resulting in their repopulation being accelerated. future.
Stopping palliative care treatment leads to progressive
symptoms. The delayed initiation of treatment after the Acknowledgments
initial diagnosis leads to a decrease in local control. In None.
general, the delays in treatment increase mortality, lead
to relapse of the disease of cancer, and affect the life Funding
quality of cancer patients, as agreed by Kumar and Dey None.
(2020), Younger et al. (2020), and Greco et al. (2021). The
COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an untimely diagnosis of Conflict of interest
cancer. With everyone’s attention focused on COVID-19,
cancer symptoms were secondary. In many cases, patients The authors declare they have no competing interests.
neglected their symptoms when they were not related
to COVID-19. In addition, the limited access to health Author contributions
structures, the overload of the health system, and the Conceptualization: All authors
insufficient medical and nursing staff personnel made early Formal analysis: All authors
diagnosis even more difficult, as there were large delays in Writing – original draft: All authors
both oncologist appointments and diagnostic tests such as Writing – review & editing: All authors
computed tomography.

In developing countries, the problems were more Ethics approval and consent to participate
intense. Due to limited health personnel, inadequate Not applicable.
treatment facilities, and an underdeveloped telemedicine
system, cancer patients in developing countries faced Consent for publication
psychological effects and significant delays in their Not applicable.
treatment.
Availability of data
5. Conclusion
Not applicable.
The effects caused by the pandemic in the psychological,
economic, and social field, as well as in the clinical References
care of cancer patients, brought them face to-face with Adhikari, S.D., Pandit, A., Pangaria, B., & Bhatnagar, S. (2022).
unprecedented situations. Cancer patients were mainly Quality of life of palliative care cancer patients during
affected socially and emotionally, with their physical COVID-19 lockdown phase. Palliative Medicine in Practice,
functioning remaining unaffected in most cases. In general, 16(4):212-219.
cancer patients are at increased risk of deterioration in https://doi.org/10.5603/PMPI.a2022.0022
their overall quality of life during the pandemic. Several
cancer patients delayed their treatments due to the intense Al-Maweri, S.A., Halboub, E., & Warnakulasuriya, S. (2020).
emotional distress they faced, as the fear of contracting Impact of COVID-19 on the early detection of oral cancer:
COVID-19 was more intense for them than the fear of A special emphasis on high risk populations. Oral Oncology,
106:104760.
developing cancer. These patients preferred to die because
of the cancer they were dealing with rather than from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oraloncology.2020.104760
COVID-19. On the contrary, the changes in the operating Andrew, T.W., Alrawi, M., & Lovat, P. (2021). Reduction in skin
protocols of health facilities, which led to delays and cancer diagnoses in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic.
postponements in cancer treatments, created intense stress Clinical and Experimental Dermatology, 46(1):145-146.
for cancer patients, who experienced a stronger fear of https://doi.org/10.1111/ced.14411
cancer progression than the fear of contracting COVID-19.
Nevertheless, frequent contact with medical and nursing Baffert, K.A., Darbas, T., Lebrun-Ly, V., Pestre-Munier, J.,
staff through telemedicine helped the psychological Peyramaure, C., Descours, C., et al. (2021). Quality of life
of patients with cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic.
well-being of cancer patients. Finally, the pandemic In vivo (Athens, Greece), 35(1):663-670.
demonstrated the importance of psychosocial support
for cancer patients. In addition, as mentioned above, https://doi.org/10.21873/invivo.12306
the COVID-19 pandemic brought about unprecedented Bartels, M.M.T., Gal, R., van der Velden, J.M., Verhoeff, J.J.C.,
situations, so it is important that cancer patients are Verlaan, J.J., & Verkooijen, H.M. (2021). Impact of the

Volume 2 Issue 2 (2024) 10 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.2636