“Things like that could affect the results. It’s one thing to postpone the screening for three to six months, for example, but we get a little more concerned if we delay or even think about it for a full year. People who have been more dramatically affected by the pandemic, maybe job losses or health insurance, who may get out of screening altogether, “Sprague said.
The rebound was also stronger in white and black women than in Asian and Hispanic women, according to the study, although it’s not clear why. The study was a sample of radiological facilities in the United States that had a diverse total population, Sprague said, but it could also reflect what was happening in some of those specific locations.
The results were recently published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Sprague said more research is ongoing to understand the impact of the pandemic on breast cancer detection and outcomes.
Another recent report found that cancer screening rates are gradually increasing in patients, but are diagnosed with more advanced cancers than they were before the pandemic.
“The trend towards more advanced disease, while alarming, does not automatically mean worse outcomes for patients,” said Dr. Thomas Eichler, chairman of the American Society for Radiation Oncology, told reporters during a briefing on last week’s findings. “Modern treatments like stereotactic radiation therapy or immunotherapeutics can offset some of the threat of advanced cancer.”
Dr. Julie Gralow, chief medical officer of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, noted that another demographic group, over 70 years old, had more delays in diagnostic mammograms at the start of the pandemic, although those numbers also rebounded.
Predictions earlier in the pandemic assumed the screening numbers wouldn’t recover for six months, but that seems to have happened much faster, Gralow said. This could mean there are fewer above-average deaths than experts previously worried, she noted.
Now it’s important to reassure those who haven’t returned that it’s time to get back to routine health maintenance, and that includes screening for breast, cervical and colon cancers, she said.
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