SynthesisJournal of medical screening2022
Assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on breast cancer screening and diagnosis rates: A rapid review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of medical screening, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Retrospective Analysis of Long-term Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Mammographic Breast Cancer Screening.Mayo Clinic proceedings. Innovations, quality & outcomes · 2026Article
- Patterns of care and treatment delays among patients with early-stage breast cancer: long term impact of the COVID-19 (C19) pandemic.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2025Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the quality of life of early breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy - an observational, multicenter study.Acta oncologica (Stockholm, Sweden) · 2025Observational
- Breast Cancer Detection Patterns in Year 2 of the COVID-19 Pandemic Highlight Gains and Gaps in Breast Cancer Surveillance.Cancer medicine · 2025Article
- Changes in Breast and Cervical Cancer Incidence by Stage at Diagnosis During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Utah.Cancer medicine · 2025Article
- Initial and persistent changes in cancer screening in a US Midwestern community health center network following the onset of COVID-19.Preventive medicine reports · 2025Article
- Investigation of the relationship between fear of the pandemic and health beliefs regarding breast cancer of women between the ages of 40-69.Journal of education and health promotion · 2025Article
- Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Management of Breast Cancer Patients.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Retrospective Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Primary Breast Cancer Care.Breast care (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Examining the impact of COVID-19 disruptions on population-based breast cancer screening in Ireland.Journal of medical screening · 2024Article
- Factors associated with deferral or non-performance of an organized breast cancer screening program during the COVID-19 pandemic in France.Cancer medicine · 2024Observational
- Time trend analysis and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mammography and Papanicolaou test coverage in Brazilian state capitals.BMC women's health · 2024Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Tumor Stage and Pathohistological Parameters of Vulvar Cancer.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Trends in breast, colon, pancreatic, and uterine cancers in women during the COVID-19 pandemic in North Carolina.Cancer medicine · 2024Article
- The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Adherence to Endocrine Therapy for Breast Cancer in Catalonia (Spain).Cancers · 2024Article
- Comparison of Clinical and Pathological Characteristics of Thyroid Cancer Surgery in the Pandemic Era.Medical journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran · 2024Article
- Financial Toxicity among Patients with Breast Cancer during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States.Cancers · 2023Article
- Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Diagnostic and Therapeutic Management of Endometrial Cancer: A Monocentric Retrospective Comparative Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on clinical presentation, treatments, and outcomes of new breast cancer patients: A retrospective multicenter cohort study.Cancer medicine · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThe ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused an indefinite delay to cancer screening programs worldwide. This study aims to explore the impact on breast cancer screening outcomes such as mammography and diagnosis rates.
methodsWe searched Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, medRxiv and bioRxiv between January 2020 to October 2021 to identify studies that reported on the rates of screening mammography and breast cancer diagnosis before and during the pandemic. The effects of 'lockdown' measures, age and ethnicity on outcomes were also examined. All studies were assessed for risk of bias using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). Rate ratios were calculated for all outcomes and pooled using standard inverse-variance random effects meta-analysis.
resultsWe identified 994 articles, of which 7 registry-based and 24 non-registry-based retrospective cohort studies, including data on 4,860,786 and 629,823 patients respectively across 18 different countries, were identified. Overall, breast cancer screening and diagnosis rates dropped by an estimated 41-53% and 18-29% respectively between 2019 and 2020. No differences in mammogram screening rates depending on patient age or ethnicity were observed. However, countries that implemented lockdown measures were associated with a significantly greater reduction in mammogram and diagnosis rates between 2019 and 2020 in comparison to those that did not.
conclusionThe pandemic has caused a substantial reduction in the screening and diagnosis of breast cancer, with reductions more pronounced in countries under lockdown restrictions. It is early yet to know if delayed screening during the pandemic translates into higher breast cancer mortality.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.