Delays in diagnosing and treating a dangerous type of skin cancer due to Covid-19 lockdowns have led to more than 100,000 years of life lost across Europe and cost the economy more than £6 billion, research has suggested.
While restrictions have saved lives from Covid, consequences of the restrictions is seen in many areas of health carefrom long waiting lists for surgery to delays in cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Researchers studying the impact of lockdowns on people with melanoma say policymakers must do more to encourage prevention of the disease and put plans in place to prevent disruption of screening services in the event of future pandemics.
“Containments are certainly necessary and useful in saving lives directly from Covid, but they have contributed to lives lost in an indirect way. And all these things need to be thought about when we make our pandemic preparedness strategies for the future,” says Dr Kaustubh Adhikari, from University College London and the Open University, who co-authored the study.
Writing in the journal JAMA Network Opendescribes how an international team of researchers used data from around 900 patients in Switzerland and Hungary collected from before 2020 to December 2021 to estimate the proportion of people diagnosed with different stages of melanoma before and during the pandemic.
The results show that a higher percentage of people were diagnosed with more advanced melanoma during the pandemic in both countries. Overall, the team estimates that 17% of patients progressed to a more severe stage of cancer due to delays associated with delays in diagnosis or treatment.
The team used this estimate, along with data on treatment costs for different stages, melanoma incidence rates, duration of confinement and years of healthy life lost for each stage of melanoma – as well as other metrics – from across a host of countries in Europe to come up with the determine impact of restrictions on melanoma patients.
The results suggest that Covid restrictions, defined by the team as “the elimination of routine medical examinations and severely limited access to follow-up examinations for at least four weeks” have taken their toll on the health of people with melanoma and the economy.
Overall, the researchers suggest that such measures contributed to 111,464 years of life lost in 31 countries in Europe, including Germany, France and the UK, with a total economic cost of £6.1bn – largely due to of a loss of productivity due to death or disability from melanoma.
While the team say the work has limitations – including due to the extrapolation of the results from two countries to others, as well as diversity in European healthcare systems and the absence of consideration of the impact on mental health – they stress the importance of maintaining screening and prevention during health crises.
Dr Adil Sheraz, consultant dermatologist and British Skin Foundation spokesman, who was not involved in the study, said he was not surprised by the results.
“Unfortunately, containment during the Covid-19 pandemic has meant limited access to virtually all outpatient-based specialties. Of course, there were also difficulties in seeing GPs face to face. Diagnosing melanomas without seeing lesions in person can be extremely difficult,” he said.
“The findings in this multi-center study are not surprising, and the loss of productivity and health outcomes reinforces the importance of screening for melanomas.”
