You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license. There were significant declines in the number of screenings for breast, colon and cervical cancers during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research. The study in JAMA Oncology includes data included in medical journals worldwide from January 2020 to December 2021. It offers one point of evidence that the global pandemic has widely affected cancer screening services. In 2020, GLOBOCAN estimated that 19.3 million new cancer cases and approximately 10 million cancer deaths occurred—with breast, colon, and cervical cancers being the first, third, and seventh most common cancers worldwide , respectively. “Cancer screening remains an important tool in combating the incidence of cancer and the morbidity and mortality caused by these diseases worldwide,” says lead author Paolo Boffetta, associate professor in the department of family, population and preventive medicine. at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University and associate director for population sciences at Stony Brook Cancer Center. “And the COVID-19 pandemic has clearly affected public health services, including cancer screening, during parts or the entire pandemic.” Boffetta and colleagues compiled cancer screening data found in PubMed and other medical publication sources from 19 countries. They completed a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify published studies that reported data from cancer registries and large patient series. They then compared the number of screenings performed before and during the pandemic for all three types of cancer. The researchers also split the data into six time periods (before the pandemic, January to February 2020, March 2020, April 2020, May 2020, and June to October 2020) to assess the change in the number of cancer screening tests performed by during the pandemic. . Analysis was performed by geographic region, time period, and type of clinical setting. They reported that during the period January 2020 to October 2020, there was an overall decrease in screening worldwide of 35.6% for breast cancer, 41.8% for colon cancer and 54.1% for cervical cancer. uterine. The researchers also note that they identified a U-shaped pattern, which varied by cancer type. By June 2020, most of the decline in breast and cervical cancer screening was gone, while for colon cancer the decline remained until the end of 2020. In addition, the decline in breast and cervical cancer screening appeared to be less pronounced in the US than in other countries, but there was no significant difference in the decline in colorectal cancer screening between the US and other countries. While all the reasons for a global decline in major cancer screenings during the pandemic may be unclear, the authors write that based on their research and their research in medical publications, the main factors that may have caused the widespread declines in breast, colon and rectal Cervical cancers are: “stay at home orders, people’s fear of infection and avoidance of non-urgent medical care and treatment, limited access to in-person medical examinations and reorganization of hospital wards ». Source: Stony Brook University
