by Will Jones, Daily Sceptic:
Delays in diagnosing skin cancer because of Covid lockdowns led to 12,000 years of life lost in Britain, it has been estimated. The Telegraph has the story.
University College London (UCL) analysed records from more than 50,000 patients across Europe, including the U.K., and calculated how many people’s cancer would have progressed from one stage owing to delays in beginning or continuing treatment.
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Both screening services and treatments were disrupted in 2020 and 2021 by lockdown restrictions, staff shortages and fear of infection.
The team who worked with the University of Basel, in Switzerland, estimated that around 17% of people progressed to a higher stage of cancer in 2020-2021, owing to delays in diagnosis or treatment of two to three months or longer.
It equates to more than 12,000 years of life lost in Britain and to more than 100,000 years of life lost across Europe.
Dr. Kaustubh Adhikari of UCL Genetics, Evolution and Environment said: “As many people missed appointments to detect or treat skin cancer, their cancer progressed to a later stage, which resulted in more expensive care and a greater risk that the treatment would not be successful.
“It’s alarming that for just one disease, there were many years of life lost, a lower quality of life for many thousands of people, and billions of pounds of economic impact – this may be just the tip of the iceberg of the consequences of delayed diagnosis and treatment due to lockdowns.”
