Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the detection and management of colorectal cancer in England: A population-based study
The Lancet: Gastroenterology & Hepatology Jan 20, 2021
Morris EJA, Goldacre R, Spata E, et al. - Researchers conducted this population-based study to examine the effect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the detection and management of colorectal cancer in England. Between 2019 and 2020, differences in patterns of care were investigated using four population-based datasets spanning NHS England for all referrals, colonoscopies, surgical procedures, and courses of rectal radiotherapy. In April 2020, there was a 63% decline in the monthly number of 2-week referrals for suspected cancer and a 92% decline in the number of colonoscopies as compared with the monthly average in 2019. The monthly rate had returned to 2019 levels but did not exceed it, by October 2020, which infers that over 3,500 fewer people had been diagnosed and treated for colorectal cancer in England than would have been expected from April to October, 2020. Relative to the monthly average in 2019, a 31% relative drop in the numbers receiving surgery in April 2020, and a lower proportion of laparoscopic and a greater proportion of stoma-forming procedures was also seen. As pressure increases due to the second wave of COVID-19 in the National Health Service, urgent action is required to address the growing burden of undetected and untreated colorectal cancer in England.
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