COVID-19 Outbreak and Consequent Delays in Schedules of the Breast Clinic: Effects on Patients’ Breast and Emotional Symptoms

Abstract

Objective: The pandemic of COVID-19 has affected many aspects of life, and emotional symptoms have been reported to worsen during this time.Also, elective visits in the Breast Clinic have been cancelled or postponed based on the priorities defined in local and international guidelines. Ouraim was to investigate the effect of these delays on the breast symptoms and emotional status of our patients.Materials and Methods: We called patients whose appointments should have taken place between March and May 2020. After asking for theirconsent to participate in the study, we asked questions about their breast and emotional symptoms and any worsening of these due to cancellation oftheir schedules because of the COVID-19 outbreak. We also inquired the relation of breast symptoms with news and thoughts about COVID-19,and if the patients or their close relatives or friends had been affected by COVID-19. We compared the worsening of breast symptoms in patientswith and without a positive self- or family history of COVID-19.Results: None of the breast or emotional symptoms had significantly got worse in the patients. Also, there was no significant difference betweenthe two groups regarding the changes in their breast symptoms or emotional health.Conclusion: We believe that these results might be evidence in favor of the Breast Clinic triage system, which conforms to most international andspecifically to our local recommended strategies.