Canadian doctors say they are seeing patients with more advanced stages of cancer than usual — a phenomenon they are attributing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Helmut Hollenhorst, senior medical director for Nova Scotia’s cancer care program, says he thinks cancer patients are presenting with more advanced disease due to pandemic-induced missed or delayed medical appointments.
Dr. Tim Hanna, a non-melanoma skin cancer specialist in Kingston, Ont., says he started to notice a spike in advanced-stage cancer at his clinic in January 2021. Both doctors attribute the rise in advanced disease to how health care and peoples’ habits changed when the pandemic hit. For many people, primary care became less accessible, Hollenhorst said, adding that public health restrictions directed Canadians to stay home and avoid public places.
Hanna said temporarily halting these tests sent “a bit of an implicit message that cancer can wait.” He said this is a problem, because in some cases, “a missed screening could turn out to be a disaster.” Hanna said for many cancer types, more advanced disease means the cancer spreads to other parts of the body. This makes it “much more challenging to treat, with greater risk of side effects and lower chance of success."
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