Impact of COVID-19 on Cancer
COVID-19 continues to disrupt daily life, but to a much greater degree and with much more profound consequences for cancer patients who require ongoing treatment.
Healthcare facilities have reorganized their daily resources to be able to cope with the influx of COVID-19 patients, requiring cancer patients to weigh the potential benefits of receiving their treatment locally with the risks posed by potential coronavirus infection.
In the 155
countries surveyed by the World Health Organization, more than half have
deferred organized cancer screening programs, such as those for breast and
cervical cancer.
because of
delayed diagnosis, according to a "conservative" National Cancer
Institute (NCI) model, breast and colon cancer deaths, which account for
one-sixth of total cancer mortality, could grow by 1 percent per year in the
United States, or 10,000 more deaths per year, between 2020 and 2030.
Experts
indicate that these numbers are subject to change as the pandemic evolves.
The NCI is
particularly concerned about cancers detected at an advanced stage, which
require more aggressive and expensive treatments and often have a very poor
outcome.
Early detection is essential for cancer treatment. For example, in the case of cervical cancer, the five-year survival rate is 92% if diagnosed before it has spread, but only 17% if diagnosed at an advanced stage.
During the pandemic of COVID-19, cancer screening fell severely: cervical cancer screening fell by 68% in the United States in the first 15 weeks of 2020, and breast cancer screening fell by 17%, with even more of a decline in areas where coronavirus infection was most prevalent.
Overloaded and exhausted health workers
At this time, 2 years after COVID-19 arrived, the health workforce is overloaded and exhausted, reassigned to deal with the virus's direct impact.
But any
relief that generalized immunity provides through vaccination and in the wake
of the less severe Omicron, as well as the upcoming spring and summer season,
must be used immediately to allow healthcare workers to return to other
important health care functions to reduce delays in chronic care services.
High tumor burden, limited survival
The scientists recruited 80 patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (48 men and 32 women) from 18 French clinical centers. The first 40 of these patients had been diagnosed before containment and the other 40 after.
« The
deleterious consequences of the pandemic on the management of cancers had until
now been mainly theorized and modeled. Our study is one of the first to
objectivize them in a concrete way, which makes me fear negative repercussions
on the prognosis of patients treated for metastatic colorectal cancer during
this period. More globally, it reinforces the major importance of screening and
early diagnosis of this type of pathology », said medical oncologist Dr.
Thibault Mazard, at the Montpellier Cancer Institute and medical coordinator of
the study.
« A delayed
first visit of patients to an oncologist and reduced screening tests during
confinements appear to be the main causes of the difference in tumor burden and
the resulting risk of reduced survival. Our data thus highlight the crucial
importance of early detection and maintenance of screening programs and the efficiency
of services and professionals involved in cancer diagnosis and treatment during
a pandemic. Furthermore, it seems necessary to implement appropriate
communication interventions to minimize patients' fears and encourage access to
care during such periods », concludes Alain Thierry, Inserm researcher and
scientific coordinator of the study.
to know the
complications, risks, and advice of cancer diseases against covid-19, you can
consult the following article:
Cancer/Covid-19report: vaccination, risks, what advice?
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