Characteristics of patients diagnosed with cancer during prepandemic and pandemic periods (n = 321 535)
| Characteristic | No. (%) of patients* | Standardized difference† | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prepandemic n = 285 973 | Pandemic n = 35 562 | ||
| Age at diagnosis, yr, mean ± SD | 66.45 ± 14.12 | 66.24 ± 14.26 | 0.01 |
| Sex, female | 146 014 (51.1) | 18 256 (51.3) | 0.01 |
| Rural resident‡ | 36 029 (12.6) | 4717 (13.3) | 0.02 |
| Immigrant | 36 328 (12.7) | 4817 (13.5) | 0.02 |
| Material deprivation quintileठ| 2376 (0.8) | 344 (1.0) | 0.01 |
| 1 (least deprived) | 60 649 (21.2) | 7725 (21.7) | 0.01 |
| 2 | 58 251 (20.4) | 7240 (20.4) | 0 |
| 3 | 55 196 (19.3) | 6924 (19.5) | 0 |
| 4 | 54 898 (19.2) | 6737 (18.9) | 0.01 |
| 5 (most deprived) | 54 603 (19.1) | 6592 (18.5) | 0.01 |
| Region of residence | |||
| Central | 83 101 (29.1) | 10 367 (29.2) | 0 |
| East | 73 672 (25.8) | 9049 (25.4) | 0.01 |
| North | 20 158 (7.0) | 2693 (7.6) | 0.02 |
| Toronto | 23 055 (8.1) | 2723 (7.7) | 0.02 |
| West | 85 961 (30.1) | 10 725 (30.2) | 0 |
| Cancer type | |||
| Breast | 44 064 (15.4) | 5477 (15.4) | 0 |
| Central nervous system | 3806 (1.3) | 574 (1.6) | 0.02 |
| Cervical | 2333 (0.8) | 288 (0.8) | 0 |
| Colorectal | 32 718 (11.4) | 3948 (11.1) | 0.01 |
| Endocrine | 11 512 (4.0) | 1280 (3.6) | 0.02 |
| Esophagus | 3009 (1.1) | 385 (1.1) | 0 |
| Genitourinary | 20 844 (7.3) | 2723 (7.7) | 0.01 |
| Gynecologic excluding cervical | 16 128 (5.6) | 2048 (5.8) | 0.01 |
| Head and neck | 8896 (3.1) | 1217 (3.4) | 0.02 |
| Hepato-pancreato-biliary | 15 156 (5.3) | 1887 (5.3) | 0 |
| Lung | 36 922 (12.9) | 4562 (12.8) | 0 |
| Lymphoma | 15 770 (5.5) | 2209 (6.2) | 0.03 |
| Prostate | 35 189 (12.3) | 3866 (10.9) | 0.04 |
| Sarcoma | 4302 (1.5) | 484 (1.4) | 0.01 |
| Stomach | 5223 (1.8) | 628 (1.8) | 0 |
| Other | 30 101 (10.5) | 3986 (11.2) | 0.02 |
| Comorbidity¶ | |||
| 0 | 27 161 (9.5) | 3654 (10.3) | 0.03 |
| 1 | 22 575 (7.9) | 2794 (7.9) | 0 |
| 2 | 16 805 (5.9) | 1833 (5.2) | 0.03 |
| ≥ 3 | 24 416 (8.5) | 2656 (7.5) | 0.04 |
| No hospitalization | 195 016 (68.2) | 24 625 (69.2) | 0.02 |
| First cancer treatment modality | |||
| Surgery | 123 292 (43.1) | 14 662 (41.2) | 0.04 |
| Chemotherapy | 47 656 (16.7) | 7244 (20.4) | 0.10 |
| Radiotherapy | 43 474 (15.2) | 5937 (16.7) | 0.04 |
| No treatment | 71 551 (25.0) | 7719 (21.7) | 0.08 |
Note: SD = standard deviation.
↵* Unless stated otherwise.
↵† We used 0.1 as the threshold to declare a significant imbalance in the distributions of the characteristics.
↵‡ Missing data were between 0.2% and 1.0% of the study cohort. Missing pattern did not differ between the 2 groups (standardized differences < 0.01).
↵§ Material deprivation encompasses the proportion of a population that is without a high school diploma, receiving government transfer payments, unemployed, low-income and living in dwellings needing major repair, as well as lone-parent families. This measure was derived from the material deprivation dimension of the Ontario Marginalization Index.
↵¶ We used the Elixhauser Comorbidity Index to measure comorbidities using a 5-year look-back window in administrative data for any hospitalization.