{"id":50245,"date":"2021-05-11T10:37:26","date_gmt":"2021-05-11T09:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=50245"},"modified":"2021-05-14T07:44:28","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T06:44:28","slug":"cancer-must-not-be-the-forgotten-c-in-the-fight-against-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/05\/11\/cancer-must-not-be-the-forgotten-c-in-the-fight-against-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Cancer must not be the forgotten \u201cC\u201d in the fight against covid-19"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Covid-19 has had a personal impact on me. On 29 March <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2020, I lost my uncle to covid-19. My colleague Eduard Vrdoljak, while consoling me for my loss, indicated that in Croatia \u201cpeople were fearing a covid<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">-19 diagnosis more than a cancer diagnosis.\u201d An<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">aspect of this that worried us was <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the realisation that government-backed <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">measures to combat covid-<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">19 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">could have destablised cancer services across Europe. We wrote an opinion piece in the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">European Journal of Cancer<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, highlighting how a repurposed pandemic-focussed health service could compromise cancer screening, delay cancer diagnoses, and precipitate cancellation\/postponement of cancer treatments. [1] Looking back at that publication, which appeared online in April 2020, I\u2019m sad to say we were proven right by what subsequently transpired.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">But where were the data to either refute or support Eduard\u2019s claim? Through DATA-CAN, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.data-can.org.uk\/\">UK\u2019s Health Data Research Hub for Cancer<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and University College London, we reached out to hospital trusts UK-wide, capturing data in \u201creal time\u201d to measure covid&#8217;s<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> impact on cancer services and patients. On 29 April, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">exactly one month after my uncle died, we posted a scientific paper online,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> reporting results of our rapidly-completed research. [2] <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The findings were so worrying that before posting online, we shared them with the chief medical officers in the four <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">UK nations, the National Clinical Director for Cancer, and SAGE\u2014the UK\u2019s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We found that there was a 76% drop in urgent referrals for people with <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">suspicious symptoms potentially indicating cancer (e.g. lump on their breast, difficulty swallowing, blood in their pee or poo). <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">But what does that actually mean? Worryingly, it reveals that 7 out of 10 people with suspicion of cancer were not being <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">seen by cancer diagnostic specialists. For cancer patients, our results were equally concerning; 40% reduction in attending chemotherapy clinics meant that <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">for 4 out of <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">10 cancer patients, their chemotherapy was delayed. Modelling the potential impact on mortality, we found that 7,000-18,000 people with cancer were at increased risk of dying due to the pandemic. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Subsequent data from ourselves and others confirmed our worst<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">fears\u2014all parts of the cancer pathway were affected by covid-19, while cancer research came to a standstill. [<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">3]<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Our data contributed to the decision to restart cancer services. I\u2019m so glad we acted quickly, sharing our data on a pre-print server before we published. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">These data needed to inform national policy as soon as possible. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hopefully this \u201creal time\u201d approach is adopted more widely to ensure rapid decision-making for the benefit of patients.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Covid-19, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">like cancer, does not respect national borders. We presented our data to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.europeancancer.org\/\">European Cancer Organisation<\/a> (E.C.O.) Europe\u2019s largest multi-professional cancer organization, prompting them to immediately create a Special Network on the impact of covid<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">-19 on cancer services. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rapidly <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">convening patient advocates and cancer experts from across Europe, we created a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.europeancancer.org\/resources\/165:build-back-smarter-from-covid-19-the-european-cancer-community-speaks-out.html\">7-point plan to build back better<\/a> (and smarter), <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">with a particular emphasis on using rapidly-deployed cancer intelligence, both to highlight the challenges, and to develop solutions for rapid implementation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">More recent data emphasise <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the scale of those challenges, with delays in endoscopic procedures, for example, precipitating a backlog of 500,000 cases,<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">which could take over a year to clear and<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">leading to thousands of extra deaths in patients with bowel, oesophageal, and stomach cancers in the UK. [<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">4]<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Reducing backlogs in cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment across Europe remains a challenge. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">However, getting back to pre-pandemic activity levels will not be enough; we need to be at 130% of previous capacity to limit the pandemic\u2019s collateral damage on cancer.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> [4]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Across Europe, we\u2019ve made great progress in cancer over the last two decades. But we must act decisively and rapidly to ensure that cancer research and care are maintained, and indeed enhanced, as we move forward. Otherwise, the progress made in the last 20 years will be reversed in less than 20 months. Cancer must never be the \u201cForgotten C\u201d in the fight against covid-19.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">On World Health Day, on 7<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">April 2021, in an initiative led by the European Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC), <a href=\"https:\/\/ecpc.org\/news-events\/press-release-joint-letter-on-covid-19-and-cancer\/\">we released a joint letter<\/a>, signed by 292 cancer organisations across the world, calling for a global effort to mitigate the pandemic\u2019s impact on cancer services. On 10 May, we presented new data to the European Beating Cancer Plan committee in the European parliament, highlighting the disastrous impact of covid-19 on cancer, with nearly one million \u201cmissed\u201d cancer diagnoses in Europe due to covid-19. [<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">5]<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> On 11 May <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2021, we are launching <a href=\"https:\/\/www.europeancancer.org\/TimeToAct\">the \u201cTime To Act\u201d Campaign<\/a>, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">led by E.C.O and co-created by patients and health professionals across Europe. Time To Act is an urgent solution-focussed Call to Action, emphasizing the need to take decisive steps immediately to ensure that the current covid-19 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">pandemic doesn\u2019t precipitate a future cancer epidemic for the citizens of Europe.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Mark Lawler<\/strong> is associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Professor of Digital Health and Chair in Translational Cancer Genomics at Queen\u2019s University Belfast. He is the Scientific Director of DATA-CAN, the UK\u2019s Health Data Research Hub for Cancer and co-leads the European Cancer Organisation\u2019s Special Network on covid-19 and Cancer and the Act Now Campaign. He is Board Member of E.C.O and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of ECPC.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Competing interests<\/strong>: none further declared.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>References<\/strong>:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Vrdoljak E, Sullivan R, Lawler M. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/32335477\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cancer and coronavirus disease 2019; how do we manage cancer optimally through a public health crisis?<\/span><\/a> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Eur J Cancer.<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> 2020; 132:98-99. doi: 10.1016\/j.ejca.2020.04.001. PMID: 32335477<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lai AG, Pasea L, Banerjee A, Hall G, Denaxas S, Chang WH, Katsoulis M, Williams B, Pillay D, Noursadeghi M, Linch D, Hughes D, Forster D, Turnbull C, Fitzpatrick NK, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Boyd K, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Foster GR, Enver T, DATA-CAN, Cooper M, Jones M, Pritchard-Jones K, Sullivan R, Davie C, Lawler M, Hemingway H. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Estimating excess mortality in people with cancer and multimorbidity in the COVID-19 emergency <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">medRxiv <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2020; doi.org\/10.1101\/2020.05.27.20083287<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a style=\"background-color: #ffffff;font-size: 1rem\" href=\"https:\/\/www.qub.ac.uk\/coronavirus\/filestore\/Filetoupload,985486,en.pdf\">https:\/\/www.qub.ac.uk\/coronavirus\/filestore\/Filetoupload,985486,en.pdf<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Ho KMA, Banerjee A, Lawler M, Rutter MD, Lovat LB. <a style=\"background-color: #ffffff;font-size: 1rem\" href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/33713606\/\">Predicting endoscopic activity recovery in England after COVID-19: a national analysis. <\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. <\/span><i style=\"font-size: 1rem\">Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol.<\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> 2021 Mar 10;6(5):381-90. doi: 10.1016\/S2468-1253(21)00058-3. Online ahead of print. PMID: 33713606\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">https:\/\/www.europeancancer.org\/events\/111:time-to-act-launch-event<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Covid-19 has had a personal impact on me. On 29 March 2020, I lost my uncle to covid-19. My colleague Eduard Vrdoljak, while consoling me for my loss, indicated that [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/05\/11\/cancer-must-not-be-the-forgotten-c-in-the-fight-against-covid-19\/\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":45661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[223,5749],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-bloggers","category-patient-perspectives"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cancer must not be the forgotten \u201cC\u201d in the fight against covid-19 - The BMJ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/05\/11\/cancer-must-not-be-the-forgotten-c-in-the-fight-against-covid-19\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cancer must not be the forgotten \u201cC\u201d in the fight against covid-19 - The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Covid-19 has had a personal impact on me. 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On 29 March 2020, I lost my uncle to covid-19. 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