Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic affects mortality and morbidity, with disruptions expected to continue for some time, with access to timely cancer-related services a concern. For breast cancer, early detection and treatment is key to improved survival and longer-term quality of life. Health services generally have been strained and in many settings with population breast mammography screening, efforts to diagnose and treat breast cancers earlier have been paused or have had reduced capacity. The resulting delays to diagnosis and treatment may lead to more intensive treatment requirements and, potentially, increased mortality. Modelled evaluations can support responses to the pandemic by estimating short- and long-term outcomes for various scenarios. Multiple calibrated and validated models exist for breast cancer screening, and some have been applied in 2020 to estimate the impact of breast screening disruptions and compare options for recovery, in a range of international settings. On behalf of the Covid and Cancer Modelling Consortium (CCGMC) Working Group 2 (Breast Cancer), we summarize and provide examples of such in a range of settings internationally, and propose priorities for future modelling exercises. International expert collaborations from the CCGMC Working Group 2 (Breast Cancer) will conduct analyses and modelling studies needed to inform key stakeholders recovery efforts in order to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on early diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 106585 |
| Journal | Preventive Medicine |
| Volume | 151 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Oct 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:KC is co-principal investigator of an unrelated investigator-initiated trial of cervical screening in Australia (Compass; ACTRN12613001207707 and NCT02328872 ), which is conducted and funded by the VCS Foundation (VCS), a government-funded health promotion charity. The VCS Foundation received equipment and a funding contribution from Roche Molecular Systems USA. However, neither KC nor her institution on her behalf (Cancer Council NSW) receives direct funding from industry for this trial or any other project. KC is funded by the NHMRC (Investigator Grant APP1194679 ). All other authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Funding Information:
Scottish modelling data were funded in part by the Data Driven Innovation fund from the University of Edinburgh (Jonine Figueroa and David Weller Co-PIs).KC is co-principal investigator of an unrelated investigator-initiated trial of cervical screening in Australia (Compass; ACTRN12613001207707 and NCT02328872), which is conducted and funded by the VCS Foundation (VCS), a government-funded health promotion charity. The VCS Foundation received equipment and a funding contribution from Roche Molecular Systems USA. However, neither KC nor her institution on her behalf (Cancer Council NSW) receives direct funding from industry for this trial or any other project. KC is funded by the NHMRC (Investigator Grant APP1194679). All other authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Funding Information:
Scottish modelling data were funded in part by the Data Driven Innovation fund from the University of Edinburgh (Jonine Figueroa and David Weller Co-PIs) .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021
