Cancer screenings were still below normal levels in June due to the pandemic.
A new study from the Epic Health Research Network finds that for the week of June 16, preventive screenings for breast cancer were down 29% over where they had been in 2019. They were off 36% for colon cancer and 35% for cervical cancer.
That is 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.
“Due to delayed or missed screening, some cancer cases could be diagnosed at a later stage with a poorer prognosis,” EHRN said.
In total, there have been 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.
