The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed an increase in cancer diagnoses and a decrease in prehabilitation programs among patients in Transylvania

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant disruptions to the landscape of oncological medicine, resulting in postponed cancer diagnoses and treatments, poor implementation of prehabilitation programmes, and an overall altered general care. Purpose: This paper aims to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the profile of patients admitted to a clinical Hospital from Transylvania, and to evaluate its detrimental effect on the implementation of prehabilitation/rehabilitation programs for patients diagnosed with cancer. Material and methods: The study compared two groups of patients, the ones admitted to the hospital in the year before the pandemic (2019) and the others admitted in 2020. We recorded the number of new cancer diagnoses, the performed interventions of prehabilitation/rehabilitation and we compared the results. Results: The diagnosis of cancer was statistically significantly more frequent in the pandemic year 2020 compared to the same timeframe in 2019. Additionally, fewer interventions of physical prehabilitation or rehabilitation were applied during the pandemic period. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic had a detrimental effect on the cancer patient´s benefit from prehabilitation/rehabilitation interventions