Concern over fall in new cancer diagnoses
Cases of six key cancers have dropped off since the pandemic hit leading US researchers to warn of rise in late stage disease
The number of newly identified patients with cancer declined significantly after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, a US analysis suggests.
For six common types of cancer, the average number of new cases identified per week declined by 25-52% after COVID-19 hit,the study found.
“Some cancers grow very slowly but others grow a little bit faster and these delays can be significant for some patients,” said lead author Dr Harvey Kaufman and colleagues at Quest Diagnostics in Secaucus, New Jersey.
“There’s definitely going to be some increases in the staging of cancers and there will be some people who will unfortunately die as a consequence.”
