ObjectivesTo examine the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on cancer care access in Chile, analyzing differential effects by insurance type, gender, and age. MethodsWe conducted a quasi-experimental study ...using interrupted time series analysis. We used multiple data sources for a broad evaluation of cancer-related health care utilization from January 2017 to December 2020. We fit negative binomial models by population groups for a range of services and diagnoses. ResultsA sharp drop in oncology health care utilization in March was followed by a slow, incomplete recovery over 2020. Cumulative cancer-related services, diagnostic confirmations, and sick leaves were reduced by one third in 2020; the decrease was more pronounced among women and the publicly insured. Early diagnosis was missed in 5132 persons with 4 common cancers. ConclusionsThe pandemic stressed the Chilean health system, decreasing access to essential services, with a profound impact on cancer care. Oncology service reductions preceded large-scale lockdowns and supply-side disruptions. Importantly, not all population groups were equally affected, with patterns suggesting that gender and socioeconomic inequalities were exacerbated.
Millions of Venezuelans have been displaced because of deteriorating socio-economic conditions in their country. We examine key domains of universal health coverage among migrant Venezuelan women in ...Brazil: healthcare access, care quality and financial risk protection.
We collected primary data on 2012 Venezuelan women aged 15–49 who migrated to Brazil between 2018 and 2021, in the cities of Boa Vista and Manaus, along with secondary data for Brazilian women. We used linear regression with entropy balance matching to estimate associations between migrant status and healthcare spending, utilisation and quality indicators.
Our sample had a mean age of 29.5 years (S.D. 8.9), 64% (1286/2011) of mixed ethnicity, 29% (577/2011) white, 4% (71/2011) black, 3% (62/2011) indigenous and 1% (15/2011) other ethnicities. Compared to Brazilian women, migrant women had 9.5 percentage points (pp) (95% CI: 6 pp–13 pp; p < 0.0001) higher catastrophic health expenditure incidence. Migrants were 27 pp (95% CI: 11 pp–43 pp; p = 0.0008) more likely to receive healthcare when sought, but 37 pp (95% CI: −45 pp to −29 pp; p < 0.0001) less likely to have had a pap smear in the last three years. Migrants were as likely as non-migrants to have received pap smear results within three months (95% CI: −9 pp to 22 pp; p = 0.39) and clinically appropriate antenatal consultations (95% CI: −10 pp to 40 pp; p = 0.23).
Migrant women in Brazil have relatively good healthcare access and quality outcomes. Yet a potential backlog of unmet sexual and reproductive healthcare needs and inadequate financial risk protection require policy attention.
UK Economic and Social Research Council (ES/T00441X/1).
Compare the diagnostic properties of five case definitions of suspected COVID-19 that were used or proposed in Chile during the first eight months of the pandemic.
An analysis was done of the ...diagnostic properties (sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values) of three case definitions of suspected COVID-19 used in Chile between March and October 2020, as well as two alternative proposed definitions. The sample was 2,019 people with known results for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for SARS-CoV-2. Stepwise logistic regression was used to develop criterion 5, optimizing sensitivity and specificity values. Multifactor logistic regression was used to explore the association between demographic variables, symptoms and signs, and PCR positivity. Different positivity scenarios were analyzed and ROC curves were compared.
The presence of anosmia (OR = 8.00; CI95%: 5.34-11.99), fever (OR = 2.15; CI95%: 1.28-3.59), and having been in close contact with a person sick with COVID-19 (OR = 2.89; CI95%: 2.16-3.87) were associated with a positive PCR result. According to the analysis of the ROC curve, criterion 5 had the highest capacity for discrimination, although there were no significant differences with the other four criteria.
Criterion 5-based on anosmia, close contact with people with COVID-19, and fever as sufficient unique elements-was the most sensitive in identifying suspected cases of COVID-19, a key aspect in controlling the spread of the pandemic.
The evidence on COVID-19 is being produced at high speed, so it is challenging for decision-makers to keep up. It seems appropriate, then, to put into practice a novel approach able to provide the ...scientific community and other interested parties with quality evidence that is actionable, and rapidly and efficiently produced.
We designed a protocol for multiple parallel systematic reviews and overviews of systematic reviews in line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Protocols (PRISMA-P). We will search for primary studies and systematic reviews that answer different questions related to COVID-19 using both a centralized repository (Epistemonikos database) and a manual search in MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. We will also search for literature in several other sources. At least two researchers will independently undertake the selection of studies, data extraction, and assessment of the quality of the included studies. We will synthesize data for each question using meta-analysis, when possible, and we will prepare Summary of Findings tables according to the GRADE approach. All the evidence will be organized in an open platform (L·OVE - Living OVerview of Evidence) that will be continuously updated using artificial intelligence and a broad network of experts.
No ethics approval is considered necessary. The results of these articles will be widely disseminated via peer-reviewed publications, social networks, and traditional media, and will be sent to relevant international organizations discussing this topic.
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