Cervical cancer screenings for women in Southern California dropped precipitously during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study examined the cervical cancer screenings in the Southern California Kaiser Permanente system. During the stay-at-home order in California from March 19 to June 11, cervical cancer screenings dropped 78% among women 21-29 years of age and 82% among women 30-65 years of age when compared to the same period in 2019.
While the number of screenings improved in the months following the restrictions, they were still down when compared to 2019. Screening declined 29% among women aged 21-29 and 24% among women aged 30-65 from June 12 to Sept. 30.
The study concluded, “As the pandemic continues, public health interventions to address decreases in cancer screening rates will be critical to avoid increased incidence of advanced cancers because of delayed detection.”
The results are consistent with previous research on cancer screenings during the pandemic. Claims data from UnitedHealth Group shows that from January to August, mammograms and cervical cancer screenings are down 20% from the same time in 2019, while colorectal cancer screenings are off 25%. A joint study of Medicare billings by the consulting firm Avalere Health and the Community Oncology Alliance found that screenings for cancers of the breast, lung, and colon saw steep drops in April when compared to the previous year, down 85%, 75%, 74%, and 56%, respectively.
A study from the Epic Health Research Network found that for the week of June 16, preventive screenings for breast cancer were down 29% from 2019. They were off 36% for colon cancer and 35% for cervical cancer. That was an improvement from early May, when breast, colon, and cervical cancer screenings were off 94%, 86%, and 94%, respectively, from the same time in the previous year. Epic Health estimated that there were 285,000 missed breast cancer screenings due to the pandemic, 95,000 missed for colon cancer, and 40,000 for cervical cancer.
The National Cancer Institute predicted that cancer deaths would increase by nearly 10,000 over the next decade because of delayed screenings.
