Impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the in‐hospital diagnostic pathway of breast and colorectal cancer in the Netherlands: A population‐based study

Abstract Background In the Netherlands, the COVID‐19 pandemic resulted in a temporary halt of population screening for cancer and limited hospital capacity for non‐COVID care. We aimed to investigate the impact of the pandemic on the in‐hospital diagnostic pathway of breast cancer (BC) and colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods 71,159 BC and 48,900 CRC patients were selected from the Netherlands Cancer Registry. Patients, diagnosed between January 2020 and July 2021, were divided into six periods and compared to the average of patients diagnosed in the same periods in 2017–2019. Diagnostic procedure... Mehr ...