Breast Cancer and COVID-19: The Effect of Fear on Patients' Decision-making Process

• Published in: In vivo (Athens) 2020-06, Vol.34 (3 Suppl), p.1651-1659
• Main Authors: Vanni, Gianluca, Materazzo, Marco, Pellicciaro, Marco, Ingallinella, Sara, Rho, Maurizio, Santori, Francesca, Cotesta, Maria, Caspi, Jonathan, Makarova, Anna, Pistolese, Chiara Adriana, Buonomo, Oreste Claudio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Anxiety - etiology; Anxiety - psychology; Attitude to Health; Biopsy, Large-Core Needle - methods; Biopsy, Large-Core Needle - psychology; Breast Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Breast Neoplasms - pathology; Breast Neoplasms - psychology; Breast Neoplasms - surgery; Coronavirus Infections - psychology; COVID-19; Decision Making; Elective Surgical Procedures - psychology; Fear - psychology; Female; Humans; Italy; Mammography; Mastectomy - psychology; Middle Aged; Pandemics; Pneumonia, Viral - psychology; Retrospective Studies; Socioeconomic Factors; Treatment Refusal - psychology; Ultrasonography, Mammary; Vacuum
• ISSN: 0258-851X; 1791-7549; 1791-7549
• DOI: 10.21873/invivo.11957

Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak is currently having a huge impact on medical resource allocation. Breast Cancer (BC) patients are concerned both with BC treatment and COVID-19. This study aimed to estimate the impact of anxiety among patients, caused by the spreading of COVID-19. Between the 16th of January and the 20th of March 2020, we retrospectively enrolled 160 patients. Eighty-two patients with a suspected breast lesion (SBL) were divided into two groups: PRE-COVID-19-SBL and POST-COVID-19-SBL. Seventy-eight BC patients were divided into PRE-COVID-19-BC and POST-COVID-19-BC. Patient characteristics including age, marital status, SBL/BC diameter, personal and family history of BC, clinical stage and molecular subtype were recorded. Procedure Refusal (PR) and Surgical Refusal (SR) were also recorded with their reason. BC and SBL analysis showed no difference in pre-treatment characteristics (p>0.05). Both POST-COVID-19-SBL and POST-COVID-19-BC groups showed higher rates of PR and SR (p=0.0208, p=0.0065 respectively). Infection risk represented primary reason for refusal among POST-COVID-19 patients. COVID-19-related anxiety could affect patients' decision-making process.