email article
The COVID-19 pandemic adversely impacted the detection and management of colorectal cancer (CRC) across England, according to a population-based study.
The number of people being referred to hospitals with suspected lower gastrointestinal cancer, and the number subsequently diagnosed, fell sharply during the first lockdown in March and a deficit persisted until September, which translated to >3,500 fewer people than expected starting treatment in the period April to October 2020, based on levels for the same period in 2019, reported Eva J.A. Morris, PhD, of the Big Data Institute at the University of Oxford, and colleagues.
"As delays in diagnosis allow tumours to continue to grow and advance, this bottleneck in the diagnostic pathway is likely to have a profoundly detrimental impact on colorectal cancer outcomes in England," they wrote in