Changes in the Characteristics of Kidney Cancer Detection During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Rumi, László and Szántó, Árpád László and Bányai, Dániel and Szabó, Éva and Zemplényi, Antal Tamás and Bellyei, Szabolcs and Mátyus, Emese and Hubai, Dóra and Girán, János and Kiss, István and Pozsgai, Éva and Boronkai, Árpád (2025) Changes in the Characteristics of Kidney Cancer Detection During the COVID-19 Pandemic. CANCERS, 17 (13). No.-2150. ISSN 2072-6694

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Abstract

Background/objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic affected cancer care globally. Our objective was to analyze the demographic and clinical characteristics of kidney cancer (KC) patients between the pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 periods. We also aimed to assess how KC was discovered-incidentally or symptomatically-and identify factors predicting the mode of discovery and advanced-stage disease. Methods: This retrospective study analyzed data from 400 patients aged 18 years or older diagnosed with kidney cancer (KC) at a large regional Hungarian clinical center during two time periods: the pre-COVID-19 period (1 January 2019 to 15 March 2020) and the COVID-19 period (16 March 2020 to 13 May 2021). Demographic and clinical information, including the mode of cancer discovery, was collected for all patients. Results: During the pandemic, monthly kidney cancer diagnoses declined by 10.3%. The proportion of female patients rose significantly from 31.9% to 42.9% (p = 0.023). Incidental tumor detection decreased from 82.4% to 72.4% (p = 0.018), while symptomatic presentation increased from 14.2% to 19.4%, although not significantly (p = 0.166). Non-incidental detection was associated with a 3.42-fold increase in odds of advanced cancer pre-pandemic and a 2.03-fold increase during the pandemic. Symptomatic presentation raised these odds by 4.51 and 2.76 times, respectively. Conclusions: Our study revealed changes in kidney cancer detection during the pandemic, including a rise in the proportion of female patients and a decline in case numbers, likely due to reduced incidental findings. Non-incidental discovery and symptom presence remained predictors of advanced-stage disease, although the odds were lower. Various factors-such as changes in healthcare access and gender-related differences in health-seeking behavior-may possibly explain these changes. Our findings support the critical role of incidental detection in high-risk populations.

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