HARTFORD, Conn. — Health experts found the pandemic has led patients to put off care for their serious medical conditions, specifically, those who have cancer.
Doctors have been urging patients to seek medical help immediately if their health is declining.
"Americans missed more than nine million cancer screenings in the last two years because of COVID. Nine million," said President Biden in a news conference Thursday.
President Biden spoke on his mission to reduce the death rate among cancer patients in the United States.
This is in response to doctors noticing more patients arriving for treatment with more advanced diseases.
Dr. Ken Robinson, the chief of emergency medicine of Hartford Hospital told FOX61 what is contributing to the rise.
The pandemic has caused staffing shortages, a lack of available appointments, not being able to afford the costs that come with cancer treatment and most commonly, a fear of contracting COVID-19 at hospitals or medical offices.
"All the offices and medical centers have been doing this for a couple years now and know how to keep the place clean and keep people safe," said Dr. Ken Robinson. "If there's one message I would say, do not delay seeking medical care or getting your usual screening tests or things like that."
The good news - hospitalizations have significantly dropped now that the holidays are over and fewer people are planning gatherings.
Regardless, Dr. Robinson said fear of COVID-19 should never be a reason to stall.
"When we ask their history, they seem to be giving a little longer period of time of symptoms than we had been seen before, and people seem to be, oftentimes seem to have worse symptoms," added Dr. Robinson.
It is not just cancer symptoms he has noticed - it is also serious respiratory symptoms such as Congestive Heart Failure.
According to the CT American Cancer Society:
- 1 in 6 patients reported a delay in their cancer screening schedule
- 1 in 10 experienced a screening delay for a cancer which they had previously been diagnosed with
- 1 in 5 reported they were not given prevention information from their doctor
"People aren't going in to get their mammograms or they may have their breast cancer diagnosis later or they aren't able to get their colonoscopies so they might have colon cancer detected at a later date," said Natalie Shurtleff of the CT American Cancer Society.
The American Cancer Society nationwide is urging lawmakers to increase funding, so patients can receive financial assistance when it comes to those higher out-of-pocket expenses.
Carmen Chau is an anchor and reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at cchau@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
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