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Difficulties in accessing healthcare caused by the Covid-19 lockdown continued to negatively impact cancer diagnoses in 2021, new figures show. The Irish Cancer Society said that it was “dismayed that our fears of there being a second year of fewer cancers being diagnosed have been confirmed.”
It is possible that a cohort of people with cancer may have died before being diagnosed and treated because of disruptions to services during the Covid restrictions, Director of the National Cancer Registry, Professor Deidre Murray, said.
The Registry said that preliminary data indicates that the number of cancer cases diagnosed in 2021 was 6% lower than projected, with 1,665 fewer cases diagnosed.
Liver, pancreatic and kidney cancers appear to have been most significantly impacted by the disruptions that occurred due to COVID-19, the figures showed.
The combined number of diagnosed cancers during 2020 and 2021 was down 4,320 cases or 8% lower than projected.
“The impact of COVID-19 on the health of the Irish population is anticipated to have a long tail as its effects on the diagnosis and management of non-communicable diseases become apparent,” Professor Murray said.
“While cancer survival rates continue to improve, the incidence of most cancers increases with age. People aged 65 years and older formed the largest cohort of COVID-19 deaths in Ireland, so it is possible that some may have died before being diagnosed and treated for cancer,” she added.
Rachel Morrogh, Director of Advocacy & External Affairs at the Irish Cancer Society said that the Society was “dismayed that our fears of there being a second year of fewer cancers being diagnosed have been confirmed.”
“Cancer never went away during the pandemic but remained undetected due to a range of reasons including putting off seeking medical advice, disruption to health services and possibly death from Covid,” she said.
“Until we see data that shows the number of cancers diagnosed have returned to expected levels, the Irish Cancer Society will continue to call for urgent and accelerated measures from Government that get people diagnosed in the first instance and secondly, that ensure swift access to cancer treatment.”
The Registry’s report entitled ‘COVID-19 impact on cancer incidence in Ireland in 2021: a preliminary analysis’ are based on registered and projected cancer cases in 2021, using data available in March 2023.
NCRI expects to publish a more definitive update on 2021 case numbers later this year.
The 6% fall in diagnoses in 2021 was a smaller shortfall in diagnosis than the 10% observed in 2020, they said.
“Colorectal, female breast, and cervical cancer case numbers, which were notably impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, returned to expected case numbers in 2021,” they noted, while liver, pancreatic and kidney cancers were most significantly impacted by the disruptions that occurred due to COVID-19.
The NCRI report is an output of a research collaboration with the RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, funded by the Irish Cancer Society.
Last year, then Taoiseach Micheál Martin warned that Ireland faces a “frightening” wave of delayed cancer diagnoses linked to the impact of Covid-19 on the health service.
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