Impact of coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on breast cancer screening and detection of high-risk mammographic findings

• Autor(a) principal: Moterani Júnior,Nino José Wilson
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Moterani,Vinicius César, Moterani,Laura Bresciani Bento Gonçalves, Pimentel,Franklin Fernandes, Reis,Francisco José Candido dos
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista da Associação Médica Brasileira (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-42302022000600842
• topic: Breast neoplasms; Early detection of cancer; COVID-19; Mammography

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has disrupted cancer screening worldwide. This study aims to analyze the changes in the rates of screening mammograms and BIRADS 4 or 5 mammograms during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in the opportunistic scenario. METHODS: We integrated three different public databases from the state of São Paulo, Brazil, to obtain the rate of screening mammograms per 1,000, and the rate of BIRADS 4 or 5 mammograms per 100,000 women aged from 50 to 69 years in the years from January 2017 to December 2020. RESULTS: The mean monthly screening mammograms decreased from 14.8/1,000 in 2019 to 9.25/1,000 in 2020, with the lowest rates being recorded in May 2020 (3.1/1,000). The mean monthly high-risk mammograms decreased from 12.8/100,000 in 2019 to 9.1/100,000 in 2020, with the lowest rates being recorded in April 2020 (4.3/100,000). CONCLUSIONS: Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic significantly decreased mammography screening in an opportunistic scenario, a warning sign for decreasing diagnosis of breast cancer in early stages, and increasing advanced stage diagnosis and mortality in the future.