A new national study has found a dramatic decline in cancer screenings, diagnoses and treatments for seniors during the pandemic, and oncologists predicting that lack of medical care will lead to traumatic results.
The study, which was conducted for the nonprofit Community Oncology Alliance by Avalere Health and published online ahead of the November issue of the journal JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics, based its data on the billing frequencies for common cancer procedures between March and July.
The data analysis found severe reductions in screenings for breast cancer (-85%), colon cancer (-75%), prostate cancer (-74%) and lung cancer (-56%) screenings at the first peak of the pandemic in April, compared with the same period one year earlier.
While the study attributed the decline to the shelter-in-place orders enacted early in the pandemic, several cancer care providers reported they have not seen the complete resumption of services as states have reopened. Billings for the leading physician-administered chemotherapy drugs were lower in July than they were in April (-31% versus -26%), and several providers noted that new patient visits were down by as much as 70% since the beginning of the pandemic.
“When cancer becomes more advanced before it is detected it becomes a ticking time bomb,” warned Dr. Debra Platt, lead author of the study and executive vice president, policy and strategic initiatives at Texas Oncology. “The decrease in screenings, diagnosis, and treatments this year will lead to later stage cancers for patients, increasing morbidity and mortality for years to come.”
Platt added that oncologists “need to alert all patients that they need to stop medical distancing and get appropriate screening and health care.”
