Cancer in Lockdown: Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Patients with Cancer

TLDR

Lockdown measures during COVID‑19 disconnected cancer patients from formal health care, prompting greater reliance on social media, yet their emotional and mental well‑being remains underexplored. The study aims to engage cancer patients via social media for real‑time issue identification and support as lockdown restrictions ease. An AI framework analyzed 2.47 million tweets and 21,800 patient discussions in real time. Patients most discussed lung and breast cancer, voicing concerns about delayed diagnosis, treatment cancellations, and weakened immunity, with overall negative sentiment dominated by fear.

Abstract

The lockdown measures of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have disengaged patients with cancer from formal health care settings, leading to an increased use of social media platforms to address unmet needs and expectations. Although remote health technologies have addressed some of the medical needs, the emotional and mental well-being of these patients remain underexplored and underreported. We used a validated artificial intelligence framework to conduct a comprehensive real-time analysis of two data sets of 2,469,822 tweets and 21,800 discussions by patients with cancer during this pandemic. Lung and breast cancer are most prominently discussed, and the most concerns were expressed regarding delayed diagnosis, cancellations, missed treatments, and weakened immunity. All patients expressed significant negative sentiment, with fear being the predominant emotion. Even as some lockdown measures ease, it is crucial that patients with cancer are engaged using social media platforms for real-time identification of issues and the provision of informational and emotional support.