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Determinants of Postponed Cancer Screening During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from the Nationally Representative COVID-19 Snapshot Monitoring in Germany (COSMO)

2021; Dove Medical Press; Volume: Volume 14; Linguagem: Inglês

10.2147/rmhp.s297326

1179-1594

André Hajek, Freia De Bock, Lena Huebl, Benedikt Kretzler, Hans‐Helmut König,

Economic and Financial Impacts of Cancer

The COVID-19 pandemic is accompanied by various challenges for individual health and the health care system. However, preventive examinations such as cancer screenings should not be postponed during a pandemic. Because nationally representative studies describing postponed cancer screenings and identifying its determinants in Germany are lacking, our aim was to close this gap in knowledge.We used cross-sectional data from the nationally representative online-survey "COVID-19 Snapshot Monitoring in Germany (COSMO)" (wave 17), which was conducted in July 2020. The analytical sample included 974 individuals (mean age was 45.9 years, SD: 16.5 years; 18 to 74 years). The outcome measure was whether cancer screening had been postponed since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic (no, attended as planned; yes, postponed).In total, slightly more than 10% of individuals stated to have postponed cancer screenings between March and July 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly women and individuals aged 30 to 49 years. The likelihood of postponed cancer screening was positively associated with higher affect regarding COVID-19 (OR: 1.65, 95% CI: 1.16-2.35), whereas it was negatively associated with younger age (eg, 18 to 29 years, OR: 0.17, 95% CI: 0.05-0.64, compared to individuals 30 to 49 years).Study findings showed that one out of ten individuals postponed cancer screenings during the COVID-19 pandemic. We determined two correlates of them (age and affect regarding COVID-19). Individuals with an increased likelihood of postponed cancer screenings should be specifically addressed.