Assessing patterns in cancer screening use by race and ethnicity during the coronavirus pandemic using electronic health record data.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus led to dramatic reductions in nonemergency medical care services during the first several months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Delayed or missed screenings can lead to more advanced stage cancer diagnoses with potentially worse health outcomes and exacerbate preexisting racial and ethnic disparities. The objective of this analysis was to examine how the pandemic affected rates of breast and colorectal cancer screenings by race and ethnicity.

Methods

We analyzed panels of providers that placed orders in 2019-2020 for mammogram and colonoscopy cancer screenings using electronic health record (EHR) data. We used a difference-in-differences design to examine the extent to which changes in provider-level mammogram and colono

SUBMITTER: Blavin FE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10469733 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature