Service for Breast Cancer Patients in Cancer Hospital During COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This research aimed to study services during COVID-19 pandemic. A Retrospective Study was undertaken among 1,901 new breast cancer patients who had been treated with surgery, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy at Cancer Hospital during 2018–2021. Data were collected from the Thai cancer base program and the Thai hospital information system. All data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, One-sample T-test, and Mann Whitney U-test. The study results found that the majority of samples were female (99.4%; with average age of 53 years, S.D.=10.7), marital status or widowed or divorced (87.7%), attended primary school (23.4%), farmers (15.9%), universal insurance coverage (70.8%), stage II breast cancer (35.0%), accessed to treatment within the specified period with surgical therapy (76.4%; average waiting time 22 days, S.D.=11.9), chemical therapy (93.6%; average waiting time 24 days, S.D.=13.1), and radiation therapy (92.6%; average waiting time 26 days, S.D.=17.7). In addition, they accessed level to surgery, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy better than standard with significantly (P<0.0001). The pandemic delayed access to surgery and radiation therapy in Cancer Hospital.