Impact Of COVID-19 Epidemic On Screening And Treatment Of Pulmonary Nodules

Objective: To explore the impact of the epidemic of corona virus disease 2019(COVID-19)on screening and treatment of pulmonary nodules.Methods: Patients were divided into a pre-COVID-19 group and a post-COVID-19 group using February 01,2020 as a time line,The period from 24 January 2020 to 07 March 2020 is the COVID-19 outbreak period.(1)The clinical data of the patients who underwent chest CT screening in Jining First People’s Hospital physical examination Center from January 2019 to December 2021 were collected,and the differences in the number,gender and age of the patients were compared and analyzed,so as to study the impact of the epidemic on screening of pulmonary nodules.(2)The inpatients who underwent surgery or puncture to confirm the pathological diagnosis of pulmonary nodules and received treatment in Jining First People’s Hospital from October 2019 to December 2020 were collected,and the differences in the general situation,discovery-admission time,discovery-operation time,the ratio of benign and malignant pulmonary nodules,lung cancer staging,treatment methods and prognosis of the two groups were analyzed,so as to study the influence of the epidemic situation on the treatment of pulmonary nodules.Results:(1)A total of 60414 patients were included in the screening,which was very low during the COVID-19 outbreak and then peaked briefly after the outbreak period.After the COVID-19 epidemic,the proportion of female health checkups increased(36.19% vs 33.05%,P<0.001)and the mean age decreased(54.77±12.54 vs 52.97±12.83,P<0.001).(2)A total of 1158 inpatients were included.The number of inpatients decreased significantly in February 2020 and rebounded significantly the following month.The time interval between diagnosis of pulmonary nodules and admission and surgery was longer after COVID-19 epidemic [31.00(5.00,170.25)days vs 14.00(3.00,65.00)days,P<0.001;36.00(12.00,174.25)days vs 20.00(10.00,79.00)days,P<0.001],the percentage of patients undergoing sublobectomy increased(44.92% vs 27.98%,P<0.001),No significant changes were found in the proportion of malignant pulmonary nodules,stage of lung cancer,and prognosis(length of hospital stay,30-day re-hospitalization rate,complication rate,1-year and 2-year recurrence rate,1-year and 2-year survival rate)(P>0.05).Conclusion:(1)The number of patients undergoing chest CT examinations was extremely low during the COVID-19 outbreak,and peaked shortly after the epidemic stabilized.After the COVID-19 epidemic,the proportion of female screening increased and the age of screening decreased.(2)After the COVID-19 epidemic,patients with pulmonary nodules had delayed hospitalization and the timing of surgery,the proportion of patients with sublobectomy increased,and no significant difference was found in the 2-year recurrence rate and 2-year survival rate.