SARS-CoV-2 screening in cancer outpatients during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: Conclusions for crisis response at a high-volume oncology center

BACKGROUND: During the second wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic Austria suffered one of the highest severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) rates worldwide. We report performance parameters of a SARS-CoV‑2 screening program established for cancer outpatien...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Berger, Julia M., Gansterer, Margaretha, Trutschnig, Wolfgang, Bathke, Arne C., Strassl, Robert, Lamm, Wolfgang, Raderer, Markus, Preusser, Matthias, Berghoff, Anna S.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Vienna 2021
Materias:
Original Article
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8375465/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34410467
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00508-021-01927-7
Descripción
Sumario:BACKGROUND: During the second wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic Austria suffered one of the highest severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) rates worldwide. We report performance parameters of a SARS-CoV‑2 screening program established for cancer outpatients at our center. METHODS: Institutional policy recommended routine biweekly SARS-CoV‑2 testing. Adherence to the testing recommendation during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic between 1 October and 30 November 2020 was analyzed. The SARS-CoV‑2 infection rate during first wave period (21 March to 4 May 2020) was compared to the one during second wave. RESULTS: A total of 1577 cancer patients were seen at our outpatient clinic during the second wave. In 1079/1577 (68.4%) patients, at least 1 SARS-CoV2 test was performed. Overall 2833 tests were performed, 23/1577 (1.5%, 95% confidence interval, CI 1.0–2.2%) patients were tested positive for SARS-CoV‑2, which indicates a significant increase compared to the first wave (4/1016; 0.4%, 95% CI 0.1–1.0%) with an odds ratio of 3.9 (95% CI 1.5–10.1; p < 0.005). Patients undergoing active anticancer treatment (172/960; 17.9% not tested) were more likely to have undergone a SARS-CoV‑2 test than patients in follow-up or best supportive care (326/617; 52.8% not tested p < 0.001). Furthermore, patients with only 1 visit within 4 weeks were more likely to not have undergone a SARS-CoV‑2 test (386/598; 64.5%) compared to patients with 2 or more visits (112/979; 11.4%; p < 0.001). The projected number of patients with undetected SARS-CoV‑2 infection during the study period was 5. CONCLUSION: We identified clinical patient parameters influencing SARS-CoV‑2 testing coverage in cancer outpatients. Our data can provide information on generation of standard operating procedures and resource allocation during subsequent infection waves.

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