Data Analytics Reveals Significant Drop in Cancer Screening in 2020

In 2020, many patients delayed care due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the vaccine rollout and cases declining from last year, data analytics indicates that significant decreases in CT imaging for cancer are persisting.

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Haver Medical School analyzed cancer-related CT exams during three periods of 2020: the pre-COVID phase (January to mid-March), peak COVID (mid-March to May), and post-COVID peak (May to mid-November). The team studied the CT volume and the type of care being delivered through imaging.

Researchers saw the CT volume drop significantly during the COVID peak, falling 82 percent. Additionally, the volumes for cancer screening and initial workup failed to recover during the post-COVID peak period, remaining down 11.7 percent and 20 percent from their pre-COVID numbers.

“The decline during the COVID peak was expected because of stay-at-home orders and the number of imaging departments that shut down as a precaution,” study senior author Marc Succi, MD, said in a press release.

“Once normal operations resumed, you’d expect that these patients were being imaged in an equitable way, but, in fact, it turns out that they weren’t.”

According to researchers, the continued decline of CTs for cancer screening and initial workup is heavily impacting chronic disease prevention. In addition, it will likely result in high numbers of patients with advanced cancers in the future.

“We expect that we’re going to see increased morbidity and mortality due to the fact that these patients weren’t able to get their routine imaging,” Succi said. “You can also surmise that they probably didn’t have their routine elective follow-up appointments as well.”

The possibility of being exposed to COVID-19 made many patients, especially high-risk individuals, reluctant to go to hospitals and primary care centers. As a result, patients may have put off appointments until their symptoms grew too significant to ignore. While COVID-19 can be deadly for cancer and high-risk patients, delaying care can be detrimental as well.

“We need better awareness and outreach toward the oncologic patient population,” Succi said.

 “For example, if a patient is due for a yearly lung cancer screening with a CT scan, we need to make sure they’re aware that they can and should get that screening regardless of COVID. Delays in screening are inevitably going to lead to delayed diagnoses and increased morbidity.”

Moving forward, the research team wants to conduct a follow-up study to track CT imaging volumes through 2021. Additionally, they want to examine the role of social determinants of health on access to cancer imaging during the pandemic.