An Evaluation of Prostate Cancer Screening During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

INTRODUCTION AND

OBJECTIVE

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020 led to the delay of routine prostate cancer screening. While screening rates recovered after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the degree to which this recovery occurred in different populations remains unknown. We sought to determine the association of the COVID-19 pandemic with prostate cancer screening, particularly for traditionally underserved patients.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective cohort study using electronic health records (EHR) data from the Optum de-identified Electronic Health Record dataset for all male patients between the ages of 55 to 69 eligible for prostate cancer screening from quarter 1 (Q1) of 2016 through Q2 of 2021. We studied trends in prostate cancer screening over time using adjusted generalized estimating equation (GEE) logit models to account for clustering of data within patients.

RESULTS

A total of 7,361,765 patients were included. After adjusting for all selected patient demographics, the percentage of eligible patients with prostate cancer screening per quarter decreased from 2.2% in Q4 of 2019 to 1.3% in Q2 of 2020. There was a rebound in screening to 2.3% in Q3 of 2020 and a subsequent decline to 1.6% in Q2 of 2021. This trend was seen even after stratifying based on age, race, ethnicity, Census division of residence, and insurance status.

CONCLUSIONS

Prostate cancer screening rates declined during the first and second waves of the COVID -19 pandemic across all demographic groups. This trend was unaffected by patient characteristics, such as age, race, insurance status, or Census division of residence.