Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on incidence, time of diagnosis and delivery of healthcare among paediatric oncology patients in Germany in 2020: evidence from the German Childhood Cancer Registry and a qualitative survey

In a new study, scientists from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and partner institutions comprehensively assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on paediatric oncology diagnoses and provision of health care, for the first time covering an entire country. The researchers examined data from Germany, which has 13.5 million people younger than 18 years. The assessment is based on nationwide high-quality cancer registry data for the whole of 2020. The results were published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health – Europe.

The researchers compared the incidence of childhood cancer in 2020 with data for the previous 5 years. They found similar or higher numbers of new diagnoses of paediatric cancer each month in 2020 compared with 2015–2019. However, the estimated age-standardized incidence rates were markedly higher, overall and across diagnostic groups, in 2020 compared with 2015–2019. The results from a qualitative survey indicate that diagnostic processes, timeliness of diagnosis, and delivery of treatment were hardly affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. This contrasts with an increasing number of reports from different European countries, the USA, and elsewhere demonstrating severe detrimental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on timely diagnosis and cancer care in adults.

The underlying reasons for the increase in incidence rates seen in this study remain speculative. Continued close monitoring of incidence patterns may shed light on the underlying reasons for the observed increase and contribute to understanding disease etiology.

Erdmann F, Wellbrock M, Trübenbach C, Spix C, Schrappe M, Schüz J, et al.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on incidence, time of diagnosis and delivery of healthcare among paediatric oncology patients in Germany in 2020: evidence from the German Childhood Cancer Registry and a qualitative survey
Lancet Reg Health Eur, Published online 18 August 2021;
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2021.100188

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