Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on lymphoma incidence and short-term survival – a Swedish Lymphoma Register Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.2340/1651-226X.2024.35238Keywords:
COVID-19, pandemic, lymphoma, incidence, mortalityAbstract
Background & purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic posed a large challenge for healthcare systems across the world. Comprehensive data on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on incidence and mortality in lymphoma are lacking.
Patients/methods: Using data from the Swedish lymphoma register, we compare incidence and 1-year survival of lymphoma patients in Sweden before (2017–2019) and during the pandemic (2020 and 2021).
Results: Fewer patients were diagnosed with lymphomas during March–June 2020, but the annual incidence rates for 2020 and 2021 were similar to those of 2017–2019. A larger proportion of patients presented with stage IV disease during 2021. There were no differences in other base-line characteristics nor application of active treatment in pre-pandemic and pandemic years. One-year overall survival was not inferior among lymphoma patients during the pandemic years compared to pre-pandemic years i.e., 2017–2019.
Interpretation: The COVID-19 pandemic had limited impact on the incidence and mortality of lymphoma in Sweden.
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Copyright (c) 2024 Sara Ekberg, Daniel Molin, Simon Pahnke, Fanny Bergström, Elsa Brånvall, Karin E. Smedby, Tove Wästerlid
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
