During the pandemic of COVID-19, people in many countries were under lock down in their own homes.
Early diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients are important. However, we noted that the number of advanced cancer patients was slightly higher in 2020. We compared head and neck cancer patients who opted for BSC between 2017–2019 and 2020. In addition, we reviewed the number of head and neck cancer first-visit patients between 2017–2019 and 2020 at Kansai Medical University Hospital, and compared disease stage distribution of the patients, stage at first visit, and initial treatment strategy between 2017–19 and 2020.
The number of first-visit patients in 2020 was lower as compared with that in 2017–2019. The disease stage distribution of patients was sililar between 2020 and 2017–2019. Among the first-visit patients, the percentage of patients treated by extended surgery was lower and the number of patients who opted for BSC was significantly higher in 2020 as compared with 2017–2019.
The proportion of patients opting for active treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic could have been lower because of an increase in the incidence of depression.
People’s psychological state could be expected to deteriorate and affect their treatment choices during any global epidemic.
