Faster surgery initiation in oral cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic in Osaka, Japan

Background: We investigated the impact of the COVID- 19 pandemic on oral cancer (OC), comparing diagnosis and number of pre-operative days in the diagnosis of OC in 2019 (pre-COVID- 19) and that in 2020 (during the COVID- 19 pandemic).Methods: Using data from a cancer registry- based study on the impact of COVID- 19 on cancer care in Osaka (CanReCO), we collected details of sex, age, residential area, cancer site, date of diagnosis, clinical stage at first treatment and number of pre-operative days in OC patients. Results: A total of 1470 OC cases were registered. Incidence of OC before and during COVID- 19 was 814 and 656 cases, respectively. During the first wave of the pandemic (March to May 2020), incidence was about half that in the same period in 2019 (2019; n = 271, 2020; n = 145). Number of pre-operative days (median number of days be-tween the first hospital visit and surgery date) was significantly shorter during the COVID- 19 year (24.5 days) than in the pre-COVID- 19 year (28 days, p = 0.0015).Conclusions: Incidence of OC during the COVID- 19 pandemic was lower than in pre-COVID- 19. Despite disruption in the healthcare system, the number of pre-operative days for OC cases was shorter during the pandemic.

Automated summary

We studied the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on oral cancer diagnosis and pre-operative days. The incidence of oral cancer was lower during the pandemic, and the number of pre-operative days decreased.