A Final Report on the Real Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Diagnosis of Gastrointestinal Cancer in Akita Prefecture, Japan in 2022

A Final Report on the Real Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Diagnosis of Gastrointestinal Cancer in Akita Prefecture, Japan in 2022

Katsunori Iijima,¹ Kenta Watanabe,¹ Yosuke Shimodaira,¹ Shigeto Koizumi,¹ Sho Fukuda,¹ Tatsuki Yoshida,¹ Ryo Ookubo,¹ Tamotsu Matsuhashi,¹ Mario Jin,² Masahito Miura³ and Hiroyuki Shibata^4,5

¹Department of Gastroenterology, Akita University Graduate School of Medicine, Akita, Akita, Japan
²Akita Foundation for Healthcare, Akita, Akita, Japan
³Department of Gastroenterology, Omagari Kosei Medical Center, Daisen, Akita, Japan
⁴Department of Clinical Oncology, Akita University Graduate School of Medicine, Akita, Akita, Japan
⁵Center for Cancer Registry and Information Services, Akita University Hospital, Akita, Akita, Japan

The long-term impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the disruption of gastrointestinal cancer diagnoses remains unclear. This study investigated the actual impact on esophagogastric cancer (EGC) and colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnoses up to the third year of the pandemic in Akita Prefecture, Japan, using population-based registry data. We collected data on the annual number of EGC and CRC diagnoses using a database from the collaborative Akita Prefecture hospital-based registration. The net number of cancers diagnosed in the first three years of the pandemic (2020-2022) were compared with those diagnosed in the three years before the pandemic (2017-2019). Changes in the proportion of cancer stage and initial treatment for diagnosed EGC and CRC after the pandemic were then compared. The total number of EGCs was 9.3% lower in the first three years of the pandemic than in the three years before, probably due to its long-term declining trend. The total number of CRCs in the first three years of the pandemic exceeded that in the three years before, suggesting successful recovery of the diagnostic procedure. The proportion of cancer stages and initial treatment for EGCs and CRCs remained largely unchanged after the onset of the pandemic. Based on the population-based registry data from the first three years of the pandemic, the disruption of gastrointestinal cancer diagnoses caused by the pandemic is settling down without any substantial disease progression, even in Akita Prefecture, the area with the highest incidence of cancer in all of Japan.

Key words —— cancer screening; cancer stage; colorectal cancers; COVID-19 pandemic; gastric cancers

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2024 June, 263(2), 161-168.

Correspondence: Katsunori Iijima M.D., Ph.D., Department of Gastroenterology, Akita University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1-1 Hondo, Akita, Akita 010-8543, Japan.

e-mail: kiijima@med.akita-u.ac.jp