Are you getting cancer screenings? Early detection of cancer is decreasing due to the decline in checkups during COVID.
2022.02.01
February 4th is “World Cancer Day”. Have you had a cancer screening?
For the past year or two, some of you may have been worried about COVID and have been putting off cancer screening. According to a report by the National Cancer Center, the number of people diagnosed with cancer in 2020 was about 60,000 less than the previous year. It has been pointed out that this is not because the number of cancer patients has decreased, but because fewer people have been found to have cancer due to the decrease in cancer screening during the COVID disaster.
Fewer people are being diagnosed with cancer after COVID
.
The National Cancer Center announced the results of data compiled from cancer registries (which register information on people diagnosed with cancer) at 863 facilities nationwide.
Using data from 735 facilities that participated in all of the national nosocomial cancer registries from 2016 to 2020 and comparing them before and after the outbreak of the new
COVID infection, the number of registrations (people newly diagnosed with cancer) decreased by about 60,000 in 2020 after COVID compared to 2019 before COVID. The
number of registrations (people newly diagnosed with cancer) decreased by about 60,000 in 2020 after COVID compared to 2019 before COVID.
In addition, compared to the average number of registrations from 2016 to 2019, there was a decrease of about 1.4 registrations.
Detection triggered by screening is decreasing
.
In terms of the reason for cancer detection, there was a tendency for the rate of decrease to be greater in cases where cancer was detected through medical checkups or physical
examinations than in cases where cancer was detected through visits to medical institutions for reasons such as subjective symptoms.
For example, in the case of stomach cancer, 76,756 people were newly diagnosed in 2020.
Of these, 62,604 were triggered by subjective symptoms, a decrease of 7,769 (11.0%) compared to the four-year average before the COVID pandemic.
On the other hand, 14,152 people’s cases were triggered by medical checkups, a decrease of 4,538 cases (24.3%) compared to the four-year average before the COVID pandemic.
Although the number of cases decreased in both cases, the rate of decrease was larger in the case of medical checkups, which tend to lead to early detection.
More early-stage cancers are decreasing
.
By stage, for example, the number of colorectal cancer cases decreased by 91.2% (3,003 fewer cases) in stage 0 and 99.6% (73 fewer cases) in stage 4 compared to the two-year
average before the corona pandemic.
The trend of decreasing detection of early-stage cancers rather than advanced cancers has also been revealed in surveys conducted by the Japan Cancer Society and other organizations.
Early-stage cancer has almost no subjective symptoms. For this reason, cancer screening and physical checkups are important to detect cancer in its early stages.
At Medical Prime Takanawa, the Shinagawa Gut Clinic on the 2nd floor offers physical examinations, and the Takanawadai Ladies Clinic on the 3rd floor offers women’s
examinations. Please feel free to consult us.
Medical Prime Kanda offers colorectal cancer screening at the Kanda Station East Clinic on the 2nd floor and gynecological cancer screening (cervical cancer, uterine cancer, ovarian cancer) at the Kanda Women’s Clinic on the 6th floor. Please feel free to consult us.
At Medical Prime Shinkawa, Kazu Internal Medicine & Surgery Clinic on the 3rd floor offers human health checkups, and the Hatchobori Sato Clinic on the 7th floor offers women’s
health checkups. Please feel free to consult us.
At Medical Prime Kodenmacho, the Saito Internal Medicine and Cardiology Clinic on the 3rd floor offers lung cancer screening, colon cancer screening, prostate cancer screening, and
hepatitis virus testing. Please feel free to consult us.
◎Reference
National Cancer Center Japan “National Cancer Registry 2020 National Summary Report”
(in Japanese)
https://www.ncc.go.jp/jp/information/pr_release/2021/1126/index.html
Japan Cancer Society: “Number of cancer diagnoses in 2020: Early-stage cases decreasing,
fears of increase in advanced-stage cases: First national survey by Japan Cancer Society
and three cancer-related societies”
https://www.jcancer.jp/news/12418?y=2021&cat=list&num=2