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Decline in inpatient cancer treatments by 10 to 20 percent
Photo: Jackyenjoyphotography / Getty Images
During and after the first lockdown in spring 2020, according to data from a large German clinic operator, the number of inpatient cancer treatments decreased by 10 to 20 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.
At the same time, however, there was no less cancer last year than in 2019.
Around 69,000 cases in 75 Helios clinics in 13 federal states were analyzed for the study.
The authors around the physician Peter Reichardt from the Helios-Klinikum Berlin-Buch consider the results to be representative for Germany.
According to its own information, Helios is Europe's largest private clinic operator.
Hospital admissions between mid-March and the end of April 2020 and the time immediately thereafter until mid-June 2020 were considered - compared to the corresponding periods of 2019. According to the study, the cuts in oncology particularly affected larger clinics and houses in federal states with higher Covid-19 Case numbers.
According to the results, patients over 75 years of age were particularly affected, for whom an average of 20 percent fewer treatments were carried out.
"Diseases probably only discovered later"
It is worrying that there was not less cancer in 2020, "but the diseases were probably only discovered later," says study author Reichardt.
Especially with cancer, an early start of therapy is important for the chances of survival.
According to the Helios clinics, further investigations are necessary to clarify the reasons for the decline.
It has been suggested that patients may have been afraid of being infected in hospital.
Presumably, however, it was also due to closed or restricted doctor's offices in lockdown.
In December 2020, experts warned of a threatening situation due to the neglect of cancer patients during the corona pandemic.
"More and more oncological interventions are being postponed, diagnostic examinations and follow-up care are being severely reduced," said the Corona Task Force from the German Cancer Aid (DKH), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and German Cancer Society (DKG).
The group observes the care situation of cancer patients.
Concern is shared in other countries whose health systems are currently under severe pressure.
The British heir to the throne, Prince Charles, recently warned against slacking off in the fight against the consequences of cancer due to the corona pandemic.
The 72-year-old Royal quoted the Macmillan Cancer Support association in a guest article in the "Telegraph" as saying that an estimated 50,000 cancers remained undetected because of the high workload in the health system.
Insufficient data
It is still too early to answer the question of whether the decline in treatments and diagnoses also leads to higher mortality among cancer patients, said Lorenz Trümper, the executive chairman of the German Society for Hematology and Medical Oncology of the news agency dpa.
He complains about a data gap: "The cancer registry system in Germany has not yet worked the way we need it." Other countries already have data, in this country a conclusion will probably only be possible after the pandemic.
The specialist society had already emphasized in May of last year that precautionary and protective measures had been taken so that patients could safely take therapies, for example - and that for the vast majority of patients, cancer was "a far greater risk to their lives" than Covid-19 .
The background was, for example, the observation that patients only came to the clinic at very advanced stages of the tumor.
Important operations are performed anyway
With the hospital data, one also has to consider that some of the patients may have been treated on an outpatient basis instead, said Trümper.
Data from oncology in private practice showed a decrease in treatments of around eight percent in the main lockdown phase, after which the numbers rose again quickly.
The decline in hospital admissions observed in the study could also be partly due to the fact that fewer patients were discharged home during therapy at the time.
Last spring, hospitals received so-called free lump sums so that enough beds were available for Covid 19 patients.
This regulation no longer exists.
According to Trümpers, cancer patients are less affected by postponing non-urgent interventions - the classic colon cancer or breast cancer surgery will be postponed by a maximum of a few days.
"But of course it is still a burden for the patient," said the oncologist at the University Medical Center in Göttingen.
He called for examinations and treatments to be carried out in the current lockdown.
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kry / dpa
