Any Concern About Delays in the Diagnosis of Childhood Cancers During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Sep 24, 2026

Objective: Lockdown precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic raised concerns about delayed diagnosis of malignancies in children, prompting this study to compare the duration of complaints at home and the presence of metastasis at diagnosis between the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods. Materials and Methods: Children diagnosed with cancer and followed in a single clinic from 2017–2022 were reviewed retrospectively; acute/chronic leukemia cases were excluded. Complaint duration and metastasis presence at diagnosis were analyzed before vs after March 11, 2020. Results and Conclusion: Of 161 patients, 61% were male; complaint duration increased during the pandemic (median 45 vs 30 days), while metastasis rates at diagnosis showed no statistical difference. Overall, distant metastasis remained high in both periods, indicating a need for earlier diagnosis strategies.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages5

Reading Time13 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Background and need for early diagnosis

COVID-19 pandemic measures and healthcare disruption

Materials and Methods

Study design and patient selection

Data collection and statistical comparison

Results

Patient characteristics

Complaint duration and metastasis at diagnosis

Conclusion

Turkish Archives of Pediatrics ORIGINAL ARTICLE DOI: 10.5152/TurkArchPediatr.2022.22224 Any Concern About Delays in the Diagnosis of Childhood Cancers During the COVID-19 Pandemic? Begüm Şirin Koç1, Funda Tekkeşin1, Elif Ezgi Haccaloğlu2, Büşra Beyter2, Selime Aydoğdu1, Suar Çakı Kılıç1 1Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, University of Health Sciences, Ümraniye Research and Training Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey 2Department of Pediatrics, University of Health Sciences, Ümraniye Research and Training Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey What is already known on this topic? • The lockdown precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic led to concerns about the delayed diagnosis of malignancies and this issue remains unclear forchildren. What this study adds on this topic? • This study showed that the duration of complaint before diagnosis was longer during the pandemic, while this delay did not increase the metastasis rate at diagnosis in children with cancer. Corresponding author: Begüm Şirin Koç 􀀍 [begumsirins@hotmail.com](begumsirins@hotmail.com)[ ](begumsirins@hotmail.com)Received: September 4, 2022 Accepted: October 19, 2022 Publication Date: December 29, 2022 Content of this journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. ABSTRACT Objective: The lockdown precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic led to concerns about the delayed diagnosis of malignancies. This study aimed to compare the duration of complaints at home and the presence of metastasis at diagnosis during the pre-pandemic and pandemic period in children with cancer. Materials and Methods: All children diagnosed with cancer and followed up in our clinic between 2017 and 2022 were included. Patients with a diagnosis of acute/chronic leukemia were excluded. Age, gender, cancer type, duration of complaints, and presence of metastasis at diagnosis of the children were recorded. The duration of complaints and presence of metastasis at diagnosis were compared statistically before and after March 11, 2020, the start point of the COVID-19 pandemic in our country. Results: A total of 161 patients diagnosed with cancer were analyzed retrospectively; 61% of patients were males and 39% were females. These patients were diagnosed with brain tumors (23.6%), lymphomas (23%), neuroblastoma (13.7%), rhabdomyosarcomas (10.6%), Ewing’s sarcoma (4.3%), osteosarcoma (3.7%), Wilm's tumor (3.7%), and germ cell tumors (3.1%) . The duration of complaint was longer during the pandemic than before the pandemic (median: 45 days vs. 30 days) (P < .05) . The presence of metastases at diagnosis was 45.3% in the prepandemic period, while it was 40% during the pandemic with no statistical difference (P > .5) . Conclusion: We concluded that the duration of complaint before diagnosis was longer during the pandemic, while this delay did not affect the metastasis rate at diagnosis in children with cancer. The high rates of distant metastases in newly diagnosed patients both before and during the pandemic suggest that more studies are needed to diagnose these patients earlier. Keywords: Pandemic, cancer, children INTRODUCTION According to 2016 data from the World Health Organization, approximately 300 000 children between the ages of 0 and 19 are diagnosed with cancer every year, and an average of 80 000 children die due to cancer.1 Cancer, which is the most common cause of death in children in the USA according to 2019 data, ranks in the top 4 in developing countries such as ours.2 The 5-year overall survival rate for all childhood cancers has been reported to be 84.1% in the USA and over 80% in Europe.3 In our country, the 5-year survival rate is approximately 70%, according to TPOG (Turkish Pediatric Oncology Group) cancer records.4 Through the new developments in diagnosis and treatment methods, mortality and morbidity rates in childhood cancers have decreased compared to previous years.5 The most critical re

FAQs

What was the main aim of the study?

To compare the duration of complaints at home and the presence of metastasis at diagnosis in children with cancer between the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods.

Which patients were included and which were excluded?

Children diagnosed with cancer and followed in the clinic between 2017 and 2022 were included. Patients with acute/chronic leukemia were excluded.

Did the pandemic increase metastasis rates at diagnosis?

No. Although complaint duration was longer during the pandemic, the presence of metastasis at diagnosis did not show a statistical difference between periods.

Sep 24, 2026

Uploaded by mieayamfan