Pandemic Lockdown Tied to Worse Outcomes in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer, French Study Says

September 8, 2021

(STAT News) – Screening rates fell precipitously for cancers with common tests, including mammograms for breast cancer, Pap tests for cervical cancer, PSA testing for prostate, CT scans for lung cancer and colonoscopies for colorectal cancer. Those rates have rebounded somewhat, but another question may take longer to answer: Does the delay in screening matter? A small new study from France is one of the first to show how diagnostic delays could lead to worse outcomes. The paper, published Wednesday in JAMA Oncology, compared people newly diagnosed with metastatic colorectal cancer before and after the country’s 55-day pandemic lockdown in 2020. It found that 40 people diagnosed with metastatic colorectal cancer after the lockdown had a tumor burden nearly seven times higher than 40 people diagnosed before the pandemic. For people with a higher tumor burden, their median survival decreased from 20 months to just under 15 months. (Read Full Article)