COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the health care system and taken hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide.听Still, there are other significant health consequences of the pandemic that haven鈥檛 yet been quantified, according to local doctors. These include the consequences of missing screenings for deadly conditions like cancer. According to a 2021 paper in JAMA Oncology, more than 9 million people across the country missed screenings for breast, colorectal, and prostate cancers that year, delaying routine but potentially life-saving doctor visits.
Here are four primary groups affected by missed health screenings, and the importance getting them scheduled:
Children
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last October that crucial vaccinations among children for diseases like polio and measles dropped worldwide, during the pandemic, to the lowest levels in more than 10 years.听
That鈥檚 just part of the problem for kids, says Dr. Kevin Dazy of Children鈥檚 Hospital of Michigan. Parents have been bringing children in at much lower rates in the last two years, he says, which means pediatricians haven鈥檛 had a chance to catch health and developmental problems before they progress.
鈥淭his has been a frustrating thing for all pediatricians, because part of our role is in preventive medicine,鈥 Dazy says. 鈥淭he biggest thing is, we don鈥檛 want to miss that opportunity to intervene early on. If they鈥檙e not gaining weight well or reaching all their milestones, we can seek out the best possible experts. We want to avoid children having to seek acute care or go to the hospital.鈥
Men
The big screenings getting missed for men are prostate, colorectal, and chronic disease like high blood pressure and diabetes, says Dr. Daniel Passerman, chair of family medicine for Henry Ford Health System.
鈥淲hat I have seen is a lot more uncontrolled disease, like diabetes, because they鈥檝e put off going to the doctor,鈥 he says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing more patients who have been without medicine, more people who have had trouble following up, than we鈥檝e seen in the past.鈥
Prostate cancer screenings are especially important for Black men, Passerman says. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that for Black men, the risk of dying from low-grade prostate cancer is double that of men of other races.
听鈥淲ith all cancers and all disease, prevention and catching things early always leads to a better outcomes,鈥 Passerman says.
Women
Many clinics are backlogged for mammograms and continue to play catch-up from two years of missed appointments, says Dr. Lori Mausi, an obstetrics and gynecology specialist at Beaumont Health.
鈥淎t first, in 2020, we were only scheduling emergency visits, and preventive visits for mammograms and cervical cancer screenings were on hold,鈥 Mausi says. 鈥淭his year, we鈥檙e still behind, but we鈥檙e trying to make up all those appointments now.鈥
The most worrisome population, though, are the patients who have noticed something abnormal, like a lump, and shrugged it off out of fear of contracting COVID-19 during a checkup.听
鈥淧eople have stayed away because they鈥檙e scared of infection,鈥 Mausi says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not on our radar.鈥听
Older adults
The pandemic has been especially hard on older adults, and isolation could cause some health conditions, like depression and cognitive decline, to progress more rapidly, says University of Michigan associate professor of geriatric and palliative medicine Dr. Lillian Min.听
Because the elderly have put off annual visits, they haven鈥檛 undergone screenings for these conditions, Min says. In addition, 鈥渃ognitive decline is compounded by not seeing the doctor because the patients are not organized. With the pandemic, people are also drinking alcohol more, making cognitive impairment, depression, and blood pressure worse.鈥
Min said this population is also less likely to engage in telehealth visits, giving them an even greater disadvantage.
This story is from the 2022 edition of Health Guide. Read more stories听here.听
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