The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the case profile of the Department of Pathology of a tertiary hospital: Comparison of the number of cases and malignancy rates between 2019 and 2020

Year 2022, Volume: 3 Issue: 2, 226 - 233, 01.08.2022

Gülsüm Şeyma Yalçın , Çiğdem Özdemir , Çiğdem Tokyol

Abstract

Introduction: Because of the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease-2019) pandemic the number of applications to health institutions for non-COVID-19 reasons has generally decreased for many reasons. We aimed to investigate the case volume of 2019 and 2020 with the rates of malignant and non-malignant categories to document the effects of the pandemic to a pathology department of a tertiary hospital. Methods: All the pathology reports that routinely examined in 2019 and 2020 in the department of pathology of a tertiary hospital in Turkey were evaluated from the hospital records. For the purpose of exact comparison, cases interpreted as before and after the first COVID-19 case in Turkey (March 11, 2020) (pre-covid and post-covid period). All the cases divided into diagnostic categories as malignant and non-malignant. We also evaluated biopsies and cytologies both together and also separately. Results: A total of 23325 pathology reports were evaluated (14105 cases in 2019, and 9220 cases in 2020). Comparing with the same period of previous year, in post-covid period of 2020 there was 43.6% reduction in all cases, 41.3% reduction in biopsies, and 47.4% reduction in cytology cases. The malignancy rate of the post-covid period of 2020 cases was higher than that of 2019 (13.1% vs 10.6%, respectively, p<0.001). The month with the most significant decrease in case volume by 84.9% and also highest malignancy rate with 25.7% was April 2020. In both malignant and non-malignant categories, mean age of the 2020 cases were lower than that of 2019 cases (p= 0.018 and p<0.001, respectively). In both years the malignancy rates were significantly higher in women. Conclusion: In the post-COVID period, we experienced the decrease in our pathology and cytology case volume as all over the world, but with a significant increase in the malignancy rates.

Keywords

COVID-19, Pandemic, Pathology, Cytology, Case volume

COVID-19 pandemisinin üçüncü basamak bir hastanenin Patoloji Bölümü vaka profiline etkileri: 2019-2020 yılları arasındaki vaka sayısı ve malignite oranlarının karşılaştırılması

Abstract

Giriş: COVID-19 (Koronavirüs hastalığı-2019) pandemisi nedeniyle sağlık kuruluşlarına COVID-19 dışı nedenlerle yapılan başvuruların sayısı genel olarak birçok nedenden dolayı azalmıştır. Pandeminin üçüncü basamak bir hastanenin patoloji bölümüne etkilerini belgelemek için 2019 ve 2020 vaka sayılarının, malign ve malign olmayan kategori oranlarıyla birlikte araştırılması amaçlanmıştır. Yöntemler: Türkiye'de üçüncü basamak bir hastanenin patoloji bölümünde 2019 ve 2020 yıllarında rutin olarak incelenen tüm patoloji raporları hastane kayıtlarından değerlendirildi. Karşılaştırma amacıyla, vakalar Türkiye'deki ilk COVID-19 vakasının (11 Mart 2020) öncesi ve sonrası (COVID öncesi ve sonrası dönem) olarak ele alındı. Tüm olgular malign ve malign olmayan olarak tanı kategorilerine ayrıldı. Ayrıca biyopsiler ve sitolojiler hem birlikte, hem de ayrı ayrı değerlendirildi. Bulgular: Toplam 23325 patoloji raporu (2019'da 14105, 2020'de 9220 vaka) değerlendirildi. Bir önceki yılın aynı dönemine göre 2020 yılı COVID sonrası dönemde tüm vakalarda %43,6, biyopsilerde %41,3 ve sitoloji vakalarında %47,4 azalma tespit edildi. 2020 vakalarının COVID sonrası dönemdeki malignite oranı 2019'dakinden daha yüksekti (sırasıyla %13,1 ve %10,6, p<0,001). Vaka hacminde %84,9 ile en belirgin düşüşün ve aynı zamanda %25,7 ile en yüksek malignite oranının olduğu ay Nisan 2020 oldu. Hem malign hem de malign olmayan kategorilerde 2020 vakalarının yaş ortalaması 2019 vakalarına göre daha düşüktü (p=0,018 ve p<0,001, sırasıyla). Her iki yılda da kadınlarda malignite oranları anlamlı derecede yüksekti. Sonuç: Tüm dünyada olduğu gibi bizim bölümümüzde de COVID-19 pandemisi sonrasındaki dönemde patoloji ve sitoloji vaka hacmimizde azalma; ancak malignite oranlarında önemli artışlarla tespit edilmiştir.

Keywords

COVID-19, Pandemi, Patoloji, Sitoloji, Vaka sayısı

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