Table 1.
Breast cancer patients’ characteristics
| Parameter | 16 Mar –30 Apr and 3 Nov–31 Dec 2019 | 16 Mar –30 Apr and 3 Nov–31 Dec 2020 | Difference (%) | p value | 1 May–2 Nov 2019 | 1 May–2 Nov 2020 | Difference (%) | p value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breast cancer patients diagnosed | ||||||||
| Number of patients | 115 | 55 | − 52% | 148 | 157 | +6% | ||
| Age, median (range) | 63 (32–90) | 60 (28–93) | − 5% | p = 0.145* | 59 (21–90) | 62 (25–96) | + 5% | p = 0.035* |
| Reported tumor-associated symptoms at diagnosis | ||||||||
| No | 78 (68%) | 25 (45%) | − 23% | p = 0.013† | 98 (67%) | 81 (51%) | − 16% | p = 0.022† |
| Yes | 36 (31%) | 30 (55%) | +24% | 48 (32%) | 75 (48%) | +16% | ||
| Unknown | 1 (1%) | 0 (0%) | 2 (1%) | 1 (1%) | ||||
| Referral of patients | ||||||||
| Patients themselves without symptoms | 4 (3%) | 1 (2%) | − 1% | p = 0.288† | 7 (5%) | 8 (5%) | 0% | p = 0.371† |
| Patients themselves with symptoms | 13 (11%) | 12 (21%) | +10% | 11 (8%) | 16 (10%) | +2% | ||
| Specialist | 94 (82%) | 40 (73%) | -9% | 123 (83%) | 131 (84%) | +1% | ||
| General practitioner | 3 (3%) | 1 (2%) | − 1% | 5 (3%) | 2 (1%) | − 2% | ||
| Emergency | 0 (0%) | 1 (2%) | +2% | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0% | ||
| Unknown | 1 (1%) | 0 (0%) | 2 (1%) | 0 (0%) | ||||
| Leading comorbidities | ||||||||
| None | 55 (47%) | 35 (64%) | +17% | p = 0.077† | 84 (57%) | 83 (53%) | − 4% | p = 0.117† |
| Cardiovascular disease | 28 (24%) | 10 (18%) | -6% | 22 (15%) | 38 (24%) | +9% | ||
| Malignant disease | 6 (5%) | 5 (9%) | +4% | 13 (9%) | 14 (9%) | 0% | ||
| Respiratory disease | 4 (4%) | 0 (0%) | − 4% | 6 (4%) | 8 (5%) | +1% | ||
| Infectious disease | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0% | 4 (3%) | 2 (1%) | − 2% | ||
| Rheumatic disease | 2 (2%) | 1(2%) | 0% | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0% | ||
| Endocrine and metabolic | 16 (14%) | 1 (2%) | -12% | 15 (10%) | 6 (4%) | − 6% | ||
| Psychiatric disorders | 2 (2%) | 3 (5%) | +3% | 3 (2%) | 3 (2%) | 0% | ||
| Others | 1 (1%) | 0 (0%) | − 1% | 1 (1%) | 0 (0%) | − 1% | ||
| Unknown | 1 (1%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 3 (2%) | ||||
| Frontline therapy | ||||||||
| Surgery | 82 (71%) | 33 (60%) | − 11% | p = 0.456† | 97 (66%) | 98 (62%) | − 4% | p = 0.736† |
| Neoadjuvant chemotherapy | 20 (17%) | 15 (27%) | +10% | 30 (20%) | 35 (22%) | +2% | ||
| Neoadjuvant endocrine therapy | 10 (9%) | 5 (9%) | 0% | 15 (10%) | 19 (12%) | +2% | ||
| Radiotherapy | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0% | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0% | ||
| Palliative therapy | 3 (3%) | 2 (4%) | +1% | 6 (4%) | 4 (3%) | − 1% | ||
| Tumor stage | ||||||||
| Tis | 10 (9%) | 2 (4%) | -5% | p = 0.047† | 14 (9%) | 11 (7%) | − 2% | p = 0.708† |
| T1 | 72 (62%) | 24 (43%) | − 19% | 78 (53%) | 81 (52%) | − 1% | ||
| T2 | 17 (15%) | 13 (24%) | +9% | 34 (23%) | 33 (21%) | − 2% | ||
| T3 | 7 (6%) | 6 (11%) | +5% | 13 (9%) | 23 (15%) | +6% | ||
| T4 | 1 (1%) | 3 (6%) | +5% | 7 (5%) | 7 (4%) | − 1% | ||
| Unknown | 8 (7%) | 7 (12%) | 2 (1%) | 2 (1%) |
16 March 2020–30 April 2020 and 3 November 2020–31 December 2020 refers to the lockdown periods 1 and 2, respectively. 1 May 2020–2 November 2020 refers to the time between the two lockdowns
*Mann–Whitney U test
†χ2 test