Impact of Telemedicine for Lung Cancer Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Interrupted Time Series Analysis
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic greatly challenged the health systems and cancer care. Objective: To estimate the impact of telemedicine on outpatient visits (OPV) to reduce disease exposure for patients and healthcare providers and minimize the effect on cancer care continuum during the COVID-1...
| Autores: | , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2025 |
| País: | Brasil |
| Institución: | Instituto Nacional de Câncer José Alencar Gomes da Silva (INCA) |
| Repositorio: | Revista Brasileira de Cancerologia (Online) |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:rbc.inca.gov.br:article/4872 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://rbc.inca.gov.br/index.php/revista/article/view/4872 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Lung Neoplasms/epidemiology COVID-19 Health Services Telemedicine Remote Consultation Neoplasias Pulmonares/epidemiologia Serviços de Saúde Telemedicina Consulta Remota Neoplasias Pulmonares/epidemiología Servicios de Salud |
| Sumario: | Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic greatly challenged the health systems and cancer care. Objective: To estimate the impact of telemedicine on outpatient visits (OPV) to reduce disease exposure for patients and healthcare providers and minimize the effect on cancer care continuum during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Longitudinal quasi-experimental time series using the institutional electronic medical records from January 2018 to December 2021, considering the implementation of telemedicine services in the first and second waves of COVID-19 in March and November 2020, respectively. The primary outcomes were a mean (A) monthly-overall-OPV, (B) monthlyin- person-OPV, (C) monthly-overall-cancer-OPV, and (D) monthly-in-person-cancer-OPV. Results: A total of 5,918 OPV were analyzed. 55.3% of the visits were for females, 87% were White, and the mean age was 66 years. Telemedicine accounted for 25.8% of the visits and 27.7% were cancer-related. White, Black, and Asian patients had a similar percentage of use of telemedicine (26.3%, 25.0%, and 26.8%), while Latinos were less likely to use telemedicine (18%, p=0.018). For outcomes (A) and (C), including telemedicine, the COVID-19 surges did not significantly impact the mean OPV. When telemedicine was not used, there was a statistically significant decline in overall in-person OPV (B) and cancer (D). In the first COVID-19 surge, telemedicine prevented a decrease in monthly-overall-OPV of 59.1% (p=0.001) and 40.9% (p=0.019) for cancer. In the second surge, these values were 64.4% (p=0.001) for monthly-overall-OPV and 59.8% for cancer (p=0.001). Conclusion: The use of telemedicine positively impacted the care for cancer patients in a thoracic surgery service. |
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