Publication date: Jun 22, 2026
The COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted healthcare delivery worldwide, including cytopathology services essential for timely diagnosis and management of malignancies. This study evaluated the pandemic’s impact on cytopathology specimen trends at the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) Universitas Academic Hospital laboratory in central South Africa. A retrospective analysis was conducted on adult non-gynaecological cytology specimens from March 2018 to April 2024, divided into pre-COVID-19, COVID-19, and post-COVID-19 eras. Specimens were categorised into fine needle aspirates (FNAs) and other non-gynaecological specimens, and stratified by anatomical site and diagnosis (benign, malignant, and suspicious for malignancy). Unsatisfactory, paediatric, and inadequate samples were excluded. Time series analysis was used for comparisons. Specimen volumes declined significantly during the COVID-19 era (p
| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Healthcare | COVID‐19 |
| Nhls | cytopathology |
| Pandemic | diagnosis |
| Universitas | malignancy |
| specimens |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 |
| disease | MESH | malignancies |