COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Delays in Diagnosis and Treatment for Cervical Cancer in Montreal, Canada

Sep 23, 2026

Uploaded by Riley

COVID-19 pandemic caused major healthcare system reorganization, reducing access to cancer screening and creating uncertainty about cervical cancer management. This retrospective cohort compared cervical cancer stage at diagnosis and surgical and medical treatment delays before versus during the pandemic among all cases diagnosed from 1 January 2018 to 28 February 2022 at CHUM. Of 244 diagnoses, overall case numbers did not change; referral time increased by 13 days, while diagnostic imaging and treatment timing showed no significant pandemic-related worsening. Results also indicated younger age and higher BMI during the pandemic period.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Materials and Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion

Article COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Delays in Diagnosis and Treatment for Cervical Cancer in Montreal, Canada Yohan Kerbage 1, Elise Hillmann 2,3, Jessica Ruel-Laliberté 4 and Vanessa Samouelian 2,3,5, * Received: 14 July 2024 Revised: 7 February 2025 Accepted: 17 February 2025 Published: 3 March 2025 Citation: Kerbage, Y.; Hillmann, E.; Ruel-Laliberté, J.; Samouelian, V. COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Delays in Diagnosis and Treatment for Cervical Cancer in Montreal, Canada. Curr. Oncol. 2025, 32, 147. [https://](https://)[ ](https://)[doi.org/10.3390/curroncol32030147](doi.org/10.3390/curroncol32030147) [Copyright:](Copyright:) © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ([https://creativecommons.org/](https://creativecommons.org/)[ ](https://creativecommons.org/)[licenses/by/4.0/](licenses/by/4.0/)) . 1 Service de Chirurgie Gynécologique, CHU Lille, University Lille, 1 Avenue Oscar Lambret, F-59000 Lille, France; [yohan.kerbage@chru-lille.fr](yohan.kerbage@chru-lille.fr) 2 Centre de Recherche du CHUM (CRCHUM), Montréal, QC H2X 0A9, Canada 3 Gynecologic Oncology Division, Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM), Montréal, QC H2X 3E4, Canada 4 Gynecologic Oncology Division, Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Sherbrooke (CHUS), Sherbrooke, QC J1H 5N4, Canada; jessica.ruel-laliberte@usherbrooke.ca 5 Département d’Obstétrique-Gynécologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada * [Correspondence: vanessa.samouelian.med@ssss.gouv.qc.ca](Correspondence: vanessa.samouelian.med@ssss.gouv.qc.ca) Abstract: Introduction. The COVID-19 pandemic has been responsible for a major reorganization of healthcare systems, with less access for cancer screening. Few data exist on the impact of cervical cancer treatment during the pandemic. Methods. The purpose of this study was to compare the cervical cancer stage at diagnosis and the surgical and medical treatment delays before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a retrospective cohort study of all cervical cancers diagnosed at any stages between 1 January 2018 and 28 February 2022 at the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal. Stage at diagnosis, time to initial referral, time from diagnosis to treatment before and during the COVID-19 pandemic were compared. Results. A total of 244 cervical cancers were diagnosed during the study period. No differences were observed between the number of cases diagnosed before and after pandemic (p = 0.237) . Most patients and disease characteristics did not differ between the study periods, but the patients were significantly younger (p = 0.007), with higher BMI (p = 0.024) in the pandemic period. The mean time between initial diagnosis and referral was longer during the pandemic by 13 days (p = 0.042) . The mean time between diagnosis and MRI and diagnosis and PET CT was not longer during the pandemic (p = 0.481 and p = 0.384) . There were no significant differences in the mean time from the initial referring to the first visit at the CHUM (p = 0.895) or in the mean time from diagnosis to treatment (0.668) and duration of treatment (p = 0.181) Conclusion. Minor delays were observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cervical cancer patients treated at the CHUM, a tertiary and quaternary Canadian public health center, were globally referred and treated similarly, as those who were treated before pandemic. Keywords: cervical cancer; COVID-19; treatments delay; pandemic; volume reduction 1. Introduction Cervical cancer is currently the 4th most common neoplasia in women worldwide; although, in Canada, it is the 15th most common cancer among females [1,2] . Still, in 2019, 1350 new cases were diagnosed, and 410 deaths were reported [1] . The therapeutic management of these patients is adapted according to the stage of the disease. These data, altho

FAQs

What was the main goal of the study on cervical cancer care during COVID-19?

To compare cervical cancer stage at diagnosis and surgical/medical treatment delays before versus during the COVID-19 pandemic at CHUM in Montreal.

Did the number of cervical cancer cases change during the pandemic period?

No. The study observed no significant difference in the number of cases diagnosed before and after the pandemic period (p = 0.237).

Were there delays in referral, diagnosis, or treatment during the pandemic?

Minor delays were observed: the mean time between initial diagnosis and referral was longer by 13 days (p = 0.042). However, mean times to MRI and PET CT, first visit at CHUM, and diagnosis-to-treatment and treatment duration were not significantly different.

Sep 23, 2026

Uploaded by Riley