Abstract

Background: It is well-known that oral cancer survivors have an array of unmet supportive care needs, but little is known on those needs that could get aggravated by COVID-19 lock down scenarios. A rapid mini-review was conducted to synthesize salient evidence on supportive care needs of oral cancer survivors amidst COVID-19.

Methods: Two rapid searches were conducted on PubMed and Google Scholar data bases available in English language using the key words “supportive care”, “oral cancer”, “COVID-19” for the first search and “supportive care” and “oral cancer” for the second search.

Results: The data bases yielded 24 and 134 publications in two searches respectively. However, there was only a single publication as to 21st December 2020 on supportive care for oral cancer survivors. Moreover, 18 publications on different aspects of supportive care needs of oral, oro-pharyngeal and head and neck cancer patients were accessed. There was an array of largely unmet supportive care needs of oral cancer survivors ranging from information needs to financial concerns. However, information on managing acute problems of recent surgeries and navigating the health system to access treatment services in difficult times were the pressing needs of oral cancer survivors in stringently imposed COVID-19 lock down.

Conclusion: There is dearth of research on supportive care needs among oral cancer survivors in COVID-19 induced health system disturbances. Hence, more research warranted in this regard aimed at intervening.

Keywords: COVID-19; Oral cancer survivors; Supportive care; Psycho-oncological services