Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Oct 29;6(2):e21697.
doi: 10.2196/21697.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Cancer Screening: Challenges and Opportunities

Ramon S Cancino  1   2 , Zhaohui Su  2 , Ruben Mesa  2   3 , Gail E Tomlinson  2   4 , Jing Wang  2   5
Affiliations

The Impact of COVID-19 on Cancer Screening: Challenges and Opportunities

Ramon S Cancino et al. JMIR Cancer. .

Abstract

Cancer is a leading cause of death in the United States and across the globe. Cancer screening is an effective preventive measure that can reduce cancer incidence and mortality. While cancer screening is integral to cancer control and prevention, due to the COVID-19 outbreak many screenings have either been canceled or postponed, leaving a vast number of patients without access to recommended health care services. This disruption to cancer screening services may have a significant impact on patients, health care practitioners, and health systems. In this paper, we aim to offer a comprehensive view of the impact of COVID-19 on cancer screening. We present the challenges COVID-19 has exerted on patients, health care practitioners, and health systems as well as potential opportunities that could help address these challenges.

Keywords: COVID-19; branding; campaign; cancer; cobranding; coronavirus; education; health; screening; social determinants; social media; telemedicine; training.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: RM is a consultant for Novartis, Sierra Oncology, and LaJolla Pharmaceutical and provides research support to Celgene, Incyte, AbbVie Inc, Samus Therapeutics, Genetech, Promedior, and CTI biopharma.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Summary of challenges patients, health care professionals, and health systems face due to COVID-19.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Siegel R, Miller K, Jemal A. Cancer statistics, 2020. CA Cancer J Clin. 2020 Jan;70(1):7–30. doi: 10.3322/caac.21590. - DOI - PubMed
    1. COVID-19 forecasts. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2020. [2020-09-01]. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/forecasting-us.html.
    1. Waterhouse DM, Harvey RD, Hurley P, Levit LA, Kim ES, Klepin HD, Mileham KF, Nowakowski G, Schenkel C, Davis C, Bruinooge SS, Schilsky RL. Early Impact of COVID-19 on the Conduct of Oncology Clinical Trials and Long-Term Opportunities for Transformation: Findings From an American Society of Clinical Oncology Survey. JCO Oncology Practice. 2020 Jul;16(7):417–421. doi: 10.1200/op.20.00275. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ren X, Chen B, Hong Y, Liu W, Jiang Q, Yang J, Qian Q, Jiang C. The challenges in colorectal cancer management during COVID-19 epidemic. Ann Transl Med. 2020 Apr;8(7):498–498. doi: 10.21037/atm.2020.03.158. doi: 10.21037/atm.2020.03.158. - DOI - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. CovidSurg Collaborative Elective surgery cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic: global predictive modelling to inform surgical recovery plans. Br J Surg. 2020 Jun 13;107(11):1440–1449. doi: 10.1002/bjs.11746. - DOI - PMC - PubMed