Disparities in Cancer Stage Shifts Associated with the COVID-19 Pandemic in California, 2020 to 2021.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated shutdowns disrupted healthcare access and resulted in decreased cancer screenings. Cancer diagnosis delays have concerning downstream effects on late-stage cancer, especially for marginalized populations.

Methods

The study population included 349,458 adults in the California Cancer Registry diagnosed with cancer between January 2019 and December 2021, during which California experienced two stay-at-home orders. We examined the percentage of late-stage (III-IV) cancer diagnoses across five periods: Pre-pandemic (January 2019-February 2020), Shutdown #1 (March-June 2020), Post-shutdown #1 (July-November 2020), Post-shutdown #2 (December 2020-March 2021), and Post-vaccine rollout (April-December 2021). To examine the association b

SUBMITTER: Wang K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12724587 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature