ArticleFrontiers in oncology2023
Stage shift and relative survival for head and neck cancer during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based study of temporal trends.
Article in Frontiers in oncology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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
12 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Semi-automated monitoring of deviations from historical incidence trends for enhanced timeliness in cancer control.ESMO real world data and digital oncology · 2026Article
- The COVID-19 pandemic has not influenced survival outcomes of head and neck cancer squamous cell carcinomas in the West of Scotland: a retrospective cohort study.BJC reports · 2026Article
- The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on TNM status among head and neck cancer patients in Hungary.Pathology oncology research : POR · 2026Article
- Changes in the Characteristics of Kidney Cancer Detection During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Cancers · 2025Article
- Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown on cancer stage distribution and time to treatment initiation using cancer registry data of the Swiss cantons of Zurich and Zug from 2018 to 2021.Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology · 2025Article
- Shorter Time to Biopsy of Patients with Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Hungary.Cancers · 2025Article
- Negative excess oral and pharyngeal cancer mortality in Europe during the early pandemic years.Oral diseases · 2025Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Lockdown on Cancer Diagnoses Using Swiss Cantonal Cancer Registry Data.Cancers · 2024Article
- Article
- Breast cancer incidence, stage distribution, and treatment shifts during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic: a nationwide population-level study.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2024Article
- Impact of COVID-19 pandemic among patients with lung and head and neck cancer assisted in a public cancer center in Brazil.BMC cancer · 2024Article
- Treatment of oropharyngeal cancer during the COVID-19 lockdown - outcomes for patients treated during the pandemic.Reports of practical oncology and radiotherapy : journal of Greatpoland Cancer Center in Poznan and Polish Society of Radiation Oncology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, non-essential health services were suspended in Belgium, and the public was ordered to socially isolate. Underdiagnosis of cancer during this period was reported worldwide. Certain risk factors for head and neck cancer (HNC) overlap with those for COVID-19 incidence and mortality, making underdiagnosis and subsequent stage shift of this potentially rapidly progressing cancer a major concern. We aimed to analyze incidence, clinical stage at presentation, and survival of patients diagnosed with HNC in 2020 in Belgium, considering recent temporal trends. Methods: Using population-based data from the Belgian Cancer Registry (BCR), we extrapolated 2017-2019 trends in incidence, clinical stage, and 1-year relative survival (1yRS) of HNC to create an expected value for 2020 and compared this to the observed value. Results: There were 9.5% fewer HNCs diagnosed in 2020, compared to the predicted incidence. Underdiagnosis was larger for males (-11.8%), patients aged 50-64 (-11.2%) and 65-79 (-11.1%), and for oral cavity cancer (-17.6%). Shifts to more advanced stages were observed in larynx and oropharynx tumors and for (male) patients aged 80+. A 2.4 percentage point decline in 1yRS was observed, relative to the increasing trends in 1yRS (2017-2019). Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic led to underdiagnosis of HNC, resulting in shifts to more advanced stage at presentation in certain subgroups. A stage shift can be expected for the 9.5% of tumors not yet diagnosed at the end of 2020. HNC patients diagnosed in 2020 suffered higher than expected 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.