Screening for prostate cancer dropped by 30 per cent in India, in the last two years of the COVID pandemic, finds a report.

The report by SRL laboratories, released on World Cancer Day, revealed a 34 per cent dip in screening for prostate cancer. Even in 2021, the numbers did not reach pre-pandemic levels and were even lower than the numbers for 2016. "The pandemic has put a pause on people's health plans, regular screening and monitoring of existing conditions. We urgently need to take remedial actions to ensure that care is not deferred for serious non-Covid-19 conditions," said Anand. K, CEO, SRL Diagnostics, in a statement.

Prostate cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in men after lung cancer and fifth leading cause of cancer death. The average annual cancer incidence rate for prostate cancer in India ranged 5.0-9.1 per 100,000 per year. Of all prostate cancers, 85 per cent is detected late (stages III and IV) in India.

The report was based on a total of 4,46,601 samples of males. Of these, 20 per cent had abnormal results. The highest percentage of abnormal prostate cancer values were observed in age group more than 85 years (36 per cent) followed by 61 to 85 years (24 per cent).

Further, East and North (21 per cent) zones showed the highest percentage of abnormal prostate cancer values, while the least was seen in the South Zone (15 per cent).