In Alberta, melanoma, prostate, colorectal, and breast cancer cases significantly decreased due to pandemic limitations. The Canadian Medical Association Journal published this research.
The extensive and unusual measures put in place at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic within Alberta had a seemingly unavoidable effect on cancer care, according to a study co-authored by epidemiologist Dr. Darren Brenner of Calgary, Alberta, and an associate professor at Cumming School of Medicine at the College of Calgary. “Preventive and screening services were greatly reduced, even though therapy and urgent operations for cancers were prioritized when additional procedures were postponed or canceled.”
The study compared the survival rates in all three categories of individuals identified between January 16, 2018, and March 15, 2019, between March 16, 2019, and March 15, 2020, and between March 16, 2019, and December 15, 2020. The researchers separated the third period into a “state of emergency” (SOE) phase from March 16 to June 15, 2020, and a post-SOE phase from June 16 to December 15, 2020.
The number of new diagnoses for various cancer kinds dropped significantly throughout the SOE period, by 43% (melanoma), 36% (colorectal and prostate), and 33% (breast). Diagnoses climbed 9%, 8%, and 10% monthly in the post-SOE phase. There were no declines in diagnoses of other malignancies over that time, including bladder, kidney, lung, and cervical.
“Our findings which early-stage colorectal and breast cancers had the greatest decline in diagnoses, indicate that the decrease in cancer screening programs throughout the initial wave of restrictions caused by the pandemic in Alberta led to asymptomatic people getting diagnosis afterward compared to what they might have otherwise,” the authors write. “These results emphasize the value of screening programs for reducing late-stage cancer diagnoses,” the study authors write.
Those diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and colorectal cancer during the pandemic era in 2020 had a worse one-year survival rate than those diagnosed in 2018. The rate of diagnoses had reverted to a level closer to pre-SOE levels by December 2020.
The results align with research from other parts of Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In April 2020, new cancer diagnoses decreased by 34% in Ontario and 23% in Manitoba. During the first year of the pandemic, Quebec lost approximately 15%. The authors suggest that cancer care must become more effective and capable to lessen the pandemic’s long-term effects on cancer outcomes.
The extensive and unusual measures implemented in Alberta at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic had an unavoidable effect on cancer treatment. Preventive and diagnostic services were drastically cut back, even though cancer treatments and urgent surgeries were given priority when other procedures were postponed or canceled.
As a result, we saw a significant decline in breast, colorectal, prostate, and melanoma cases in this study. We also saw shifts in the stages of cancer at diagnosis and evidence that individuals with colorectal cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and uterine cancer may have a lower 1-year survival rate. To lessen any significant impact on the course of cancer, cancer care will probably need to adapt and work more in the coming years.
