The impact of COVID-19 on cancer diagnoses and screening in the EU

Subject: The impact of COVID-19 on cancer diagnoses and screening in the EU

A recent study in Belgium showed that, because of COVID-19, no less than 5000 fewer cases of cancer were diagnosed between 1 March and 19 September 2020 than in the same period in 2019. There were considerably fewer diagnoses in March and April, in particular.

Breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening programmes were also temporarily put on hold between March and May, resulting in a 22% drop in diagnoses of colorectal cancer (for men and women in the 50-74 age group) and a 20% drop in breast cancer diagnoses in the 50-69 age group.

As a result, there is a high risk that a huge number of cancers will be detected late, with all the associated negative consequences. It is important to identify those people who have fallen through the net.

1. Does the Commission have comparable figures for the whole of the EU?

2. What measures can/will the Commission take to ensure rapid/up-to-date figures for screening programmes and diagnoses, so that rapid action can be taken in the event of sudden falls in the expected figures?

3. What measures could be taken to ensure that this does not recur in the event of a future pandemic?

Answer given by Ms Kyriakides on behalf of the European Commission

(26 February 2021)

The Commission is actively engaged with stakeholders to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on cancer.

Through the European Statistical System and implementation reports on the 2003 Council Recommendations on Cancer Screening, the Commission monitors the state of play of breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening. However, these systems do not provide real-time access to medical data that would allow the early detection of sudden changes such as those caused by the pandemic.

The indicators monitoring the cancer burden (new cancer diagnosis, cancer mortality, cancer survival) are available in the European Cancer Information System (1) (ECIS). As part of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, the Commission intends to augment ECIS by disseminating detailed indicators, including cancer staging, improved data comparability as well as to provide more timely data access (2).

In addition, the Population Health Information Research Infrastructure (3) provides a mechanism to generate evidence on health and wellbeing of populations as impacted by COVID-19. This will include analysis of delays and their causes in diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. The lessons learned are integrated in Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan (4).

The Cancer Plan addresses the impact of COVID-19 on cancer by reinforcing coordination and establishing effective partnerships and focus on vulnerable groups. It strengthens telemedicine and remote monitoring in health systems and promotes the virtual consultation model of the European Reference Networks. It will support the resilience, accessibility and effectiveness of health systems to safeguard provision of cancer care in future health crises.

⋅1∙ https://ecis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/

⋅2∙ https://ec.europa.eu/health/sites/health/files/non_communicable_diseases/docs/eu_cancer-plan_en.pdf

⋅3∙ https://www.phiri.eu/

⋅4∙ https://ec.europa.eu/health/sites/health/files/non_communicable_diseases/docs/eu_cancer-plan_en.pdf