Survival of patients with malignant head and neck tumors diagnosed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected healthcare access worldwide. Few studies have analyzed whether the pandemic negatively impacted patients with head and neck malignant tumors diagnosed during this period. This study aims to determine if there were differences in oncological outcomes between patients diagnosed during the pandemic and those diagnosed previously.

Material and methods: A retrospective study was conducted on patients with malignant head and neck tumors diagnosed during the pandemic and the previous five years at a tertiary center.

Results: The study cohort included 872 patients diagnosed between March 2018 and February 2022. The quarter with the fewest diagnoses was the COVID-4 period (March-2020 to June-2020), coinciding with the strictest lockdown phases. There were no significant changes in patient characteristics or treatment types due to the pandemic. No significant differences in 3-year disease-specific survival were observed between patients diagnosed and treated during the COVID period (March-2020 to February-2021, disease-specific survival 73.0%) and those treated during the previous five years (March-2015 to February-2020, disease-specific survival 70.6%, P = 0.377).

Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic led to a decrease in the number of diagnoses of malignant head and neck tumors during the strictest lockdown phases in our country. However, no statistically significant differences in oncological outcomes were observed as a consequence of the pandemic.