A new study has found that since the first coronavirus lockdown the number of people diagnosed with bowel cancer in England has fallen sharply.
Between April and October 2020, over 3,500 fewer patients than expected were diagnosed with bowel cancer in England. Since bowel cancer is more likely to be curable if it is detected at an early stage, these results suggest that many patients, whose diagnosis has yet to be made, may die unnecessarily.
Co-author Dr Katie Spencer, from the University of Leeds, said: “As a result of the coronavirus pandemic first wave, the NHS National Bowel Cancer Screening Programme was paused, and surgical capacity to treat patients was limited.
“It is very concerning that the improvements we had been seeing because of the early detection of bowel cancer are likely to have been set back during this time, and we need to ensure that patients continue to come forward so we can keep making progress in fighting this disease.”
The results are published today in The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
The research was carried out by a team of clinicians and academic researchers from across the UK, including from the University of Oxford, University of Leeds and the University of Newcastle.
For this study, the researchers assessed the patterns of referral for bowel cancer investigation, diagnosis and treatment within the English NHS from 1 January 2019 to 31 October 2020.
This is the first study to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the diagnosis and management of bowel cancer across England.
“These results reflect serious disruption in the normal identification and treatment of patients with bowel cancer,” said lead author of the study Professor Eva Morris from the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford. “Early diagnosis is key to obtaining the best survival for bowel cancer so these delays in diagnosis are likely to have severe consequences on survival rates from the disease.”
Over 90% of patients diagnosed with bowel cancer at Stage I of the disease survive for at least five years, compared with only 10% of patients diagnosed at Stage IV.
