Up to 20,000 prostate cancer diagnoses could have been missed during the pandemic, research suggests

Up to 20,000 prostate cancer diagnoses could have been missed during the pandemic, research shows.

Analysis of 24 million patient records since 2020 showed that tens of thousands of men have missed potentially life-saving cancer diagnoses.

The study by the University of Surrey and the University of Oxford said there was ‘unprecedented disruption’ in the diagnosis of cancer with a fall in urgent referrals from GPs, caused by difficulties accessing care and longer waiting times.

They analyzed the incidence of prostate cancer between January 2015 and July 2023 using data representing 40 percent of the country. This revealed a 31 percent drop in prostate cancer diagnoses in 2020 and 18 percent in 2021, returning to normal in 2022.

When extrapolated across the country, there were 19,800 fewer cases, according to the results published in the British Journal of Urology International.

Lead author Dr. Agnieszka Lemanska from the University of Surrey said: “Understandably, during the pandemic, resources and attention in health systems shifted towards preventing and managing the virus.

‘It is important that we learn from the pandemic. But to do this we need to understand the extent of how the rate of diagnosis was affected during this time.’