Review

. 2021 Jun;29(6):2841-2850.

doi: 10.1007/s00520-020-05908-w. Epub 2020 Nov 26.

Systematic rapid living review of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer survivors: update to August 27, 2020

Anish Singh Jammu¹, Martin Robert Chasen^{2

3

4

5}, Aisha Kamilah Lofters^{6

7

8

9

10

11}, Ravi Bhargava^{12

13}

Affiliations

¹ Global Health Program, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4L8, Canada.
² Division of Palliative Care, William Osler Health System, 2100 Bovaird Dr E, Brampton, ON, L6R 3J7, Canada. martin.chasen@williamoslerhs.ca.
³ Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. martin.chasen@williamoslerhs.ca.
⁴ Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. martin.chasen@williamoslerhs.ca.
⁵ The Global Institute of Psychosocial, Palliative and End-of-Life Care, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. martin.chasen@williamoslerhs.ca.
⁶ Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁷ Women's College Hospital, Family Practice Health Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁸ MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁹ Department of Family and Community Medicine, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.
¹⁰ ICES, Toronto, ON, Canada.
¹¹ Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Toronto, ON, Canada.
¹² The Global Institute of Psychosocial, Palliative and End-of-Life Care, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
¹³ PHMI Program Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.

PMID: 33242162
PMCID: PMC7690065
DOI: 10.1007/s00520-020-05908-w

Review

Systematic rapid living review of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer survivors: update to August 27, 2020

Anish Singh Jammu et al. Support Care Cancer. 2021 Jun.

. 2021 Jun;29(6):2841-2850.

doi: 10.1007/s00520-020-05908-w. Epub 2020 Nov 26.

Authors

Anish Singh Jammu¹, Martin Robert Chasen^{2

3

4

5}, Aisha Kamilah Lofters^{6

7

8

9

10

11}, Ravi Bhargava^{12

13}

Affiliations

¹ Global Health Program, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4L8, Canada.
² Division of Palliative Care, William Osler Health System, 2100 Bovaird Dr E, Brampton, ON, L6R 3J7, Canada. martin.chasen@williamoslerhs.ca.
³ Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. martin.chasen@williamoslerhs.ca.
⁴ Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. martin.chasen@williamoslerhs.ca.
⁵ The Global Institute of Psychosocial, Palliative and End-of-Life Care, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. martin.chasen@williamoslerhs.ca.
⁶ Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁷ Women's College Hospital, Family Practice Health Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁸ MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁹ Department of Family and Community Medicine, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.
¹⁰ ICES, Toronto, ON, Canada.
¹¹ Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Toronto, ON, Canada.
¹² The Global Institute of Psychosocial, Palliative and End-of-Life Care, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
¹³ PHMI Program Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.

PMID: 33242162
PMCID: PMC7690065
DOI: 10.1007/s00520-020-05908-w

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in drastic changes in the global healthcare delivery landscape and has had practical repercussions for cancer survivors. This systematic rapid living review has been undertaken to synthesise the available knowledge regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in a timely manner. This initial rapid review will present the findings of literature published up to August 27, 2020.

Design: A systematic search of PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar databases was conducted to identify all articles, available in English language, regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer survivors published between December 2019 and August 27, 2020. The search strategy employed the following search strings: "covid-19 OR coronavirus OR sars-cov-2" with "cancer survivors OR cancer survivorship".

Results: The database search yielded 1639 articles, of which 19 were included. Of the 19 selected articles, there were 12 expert opinion articles, two literature reviews, two prospective cohort studies, one retrospective cohort study, one descriptive study and one pooled meta-analysis that comment on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the physical wellbeing (16 articles), psychosocial wellbeing (15 articles) and financial wellbeing of cancer survivors (3 articles).

Conclusions: Limited definitive evidence exists regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer survivors. Currently available literature provides preliminary indications of wide-ranging impacts of the pandemic on cancer survivors with respect to the requirement to adapt to new means of healthcare delivery as well as their physical, psychosocial and economic wellbeing. The pandemic has left survivors dealing with the consequences of rigorous cancer treatment in the context of new challenges related to social isolation, financial hardship and uncertainty with respect to their ongoing care. Additional rigorously designed research initiatives are required to elucidate the impact of the pandemic on cancer survivors.

Keywords: COVID-19; Cancer survivors; Cancer survivorship; Coronavirus; SARS-CoV-2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

**Fig. 1**
PRISMA flow diagram depicting the study screening process

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

1. World Health Organization (2020) COVID-19 situation report-94. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/2.... Accessed 27 July 2020
1. World Health Organization (2020) COVID-19 significantly impacts health services for noncommunicable diseases. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/01-06-2020-covid-19-significantly-i.... Accessed 27 July 2020
1. Azarpazhooh MR, Morovatdar N, Avan A, Phan TG, Divani AA, Yassi N, Stranges S, Silver B, Biller J, Tokazebani Belasi M, Kazemi Neya S, Khorram B, Frydman A, Nilanont Y, Onorati E, di Napoli M. COVID-19 pandemic and burden of non-communicable diseases: an ecological study on data of 185 countries: COVID-19 and non-communicable diseases. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2020;29(9):105089. doi: 10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2020.105089. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Kutikov A, Weinberg DS, Edelman MJ, Horwitz EM, Uzzo RG, Fisher RI. A war on two fronts: cancer care in the time of COVID-19. Ann Intern Med. 2020;172:756–758. doi: 10.7326/M20-1133. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Qian Y, Wu K, Xu H, Bao D, Ran F, Wei W, Cheng T, Huang D, Lin X, Bruera E, Hu D, Wu Y. A survey on physical and mental distress among cancer patients during the COVID-19 epidemic in Wuhan, China. J Palliat Med. 2020;23(7):888–889. doi: 10.1089/jpm.2020.0240. - DOI - PubMed

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Systematic rapid living review of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer survivors: update to August 27, 2020

Affiliations

Systematic rapid living review of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer survivors: update to August 27, 2020

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Medical

Miscellaneous