COVID-19 leads to decrease in breast cancer screenings, mammograms

A recent study in JCO Clinical Care Informatics found that, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, fewer patients sought cancer-related care this year than last.

The study analyzed patient encounter data via TriNetX, a global health research network of real-world evidence, and sought to measure the effects of COVID-19 on normal cancer care activities and screening efforts¹.

Investigators from the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center – Jefferson Health (SKCC) analyzed the differences in patient encounters from January to April 2019 and compared it with the same months in 2020¹.

According to the findings, mammograms declined by 89.2% in April of this year. Although researchers found a substantial decrease in patient encounters across all cancer types, breast cancer-related encounters declined by 47.7%¹.

These results suggest that ob/gyns may be faced with increased rates in the presentation of later-stage cancers in the coming months.

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Reference

1. London JW, Fazio-Eynullayeva E, Palchuk MB, Sankey P, McNair C. Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer-related patient encounters. JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics. 2020. Doi: 10.1200/CCI.20.00068