Routine cancer screenings have dropped precipitously during the COVID-19 pandemic’s initial spread, a trend that has experts concerned about an explosion in more severe diagnoses in the coming months.
Epic recently made this discovering after analyzing data from about 2.7 million patients, treated at 190 hospitals across 23 states. The electronic health record vendor specifically targeted cervical, colon and breast cancer, and found a roughly 86%-94% drop in screening levels when compared to previous care volumes logged between 2017-2019.
Radiology providers have been forced to postpone such cancer screenings across the country in a bid to help limit COVID-19’s spread while also preserving protective equipment and capacity for sicker patients. The American College of Radiology and CDC, among others, have urged for such postponements in recent weeks.
“If the trend continues and centers are not able to resume testing, cancer cases could go undiagnosed for prolonged periods of time which may lead to tumor detection at a later stage,” Epic noted in its analysis. “Although patients and hospital systems are advised to reschedule their preventive services as soon as possible, the full impact of this delay in regular screening has yet to be seen.”
All told, Epic noted a roughly 94% drop in screenings for both breast and cervical cancer when compared to historical levels. Colon cancer screenings dropped another 86%, researchers found. And while states begin to lift restrictions and radiology providers attempt to return to normalcy, Epic is concerned that it may take a while before volumes return to where they were prior to the pandemic.
“We’re also fairly convinced that even once they lift the lockdowns, we’ll still see the concerned patients a little bit more reluctant to go in,” Epic President Carl Dvorak told STAT news Monday. “Truthfully, it doesn’t take much to talk a person out of going in for a colonoscopy.”
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.