2023-05-16 19:02:21
The COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a closure of society and a reorganization of hospital resources to treat victims of the pandemic, probably prevented the diagnosis of more than 15,000 cancers in the country, outside Quebec.
According to data from Statistics Canada, 140,330 new cases of cancer were diagnosed in Canada in 2020, which represents an incidence rate of 449.5 new cancers per 100,000 people.
However, on average, regarding 512.5 new cancers per 100,000 people were discovered between 2015 and 2019. The year 2020 therefore shows a 12.3% drop in the number of cancers diagnosed compared to the average, suggesting that almost 17,000 cancers have not been discovered.
“In the months following the first lockdowns in mid-March 2020, the number of recorded cancer cases decreased from 11,510 in March to 8,640 in April, then to 9,235 in May before increasing. once more to settle at 11,585 in June”, detailed Statistics Canada, noting that the number of diagnoses was back to normal, even higher than usual, in the fall of 2020.
Skin melanomas (-18.2%) and prostate cancers (-18%) were particularly overlooked compared to other cancers. Notable decreases are also noted for breast cancer (-11.3%), thyroid (-16.1%), kidney (-10.7%) and bladder (-9.8%) .
It should be noted that this analysis excludes Quebec since the last data that the province saw fit to send to Statistics Canada dates back to 2017.
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