Empowered Patient Podcast Recovering from Missed Medical Testing Due to COVID with Dr. Harvey Kaufman Quest Diagnostics
Dr. Harvey Kaufman is the Senior Medical Director at Quest Diagnostics and Director of the Quest Diagnostics Health Trends Research, and he raises the alarm about the impact of delayed diagnostic testing for cancer due to the disruption of the COVID restrictions. While progress has been made on more effective treatments, early-stage cancer diagnoses significantly contributed to the 32% decline in cancer deaths between 1991 to 2019. The delay in cancer screening can turn one public health crisis caused by the pandemic into another crisis, with more advanced-stage cancers requiring more aggressive therapy and having worse outcomes. Quest Diagnostics is the leading provider of diagnostic testing services and information in the United States and a leader in cancer diagnoses and testing.
Harvey explains, "We looked at people who had missed testing for diabetes, chlamydia, gonorrhea, hepatitis, and a host of other conditions, including cancer. And we showed that in the early months of the pandemic, particularly March, April, and May of 2020 when a lot of healthcare was shut down other than for caring for COVID-19-affected individuals. During that early period, it was hard to get care because everyone was in essence, shut down. And sure enough, there were dramatic declines in people who were diagnosed with a host of conditions, including cancer."
"Now, there was a study done in Japan, clearly different patients, clearly different approach. And they found virtually the same thing that in the early part of 2020, there was a 30% decline in newly identified patients with cancer. And that in early 2021, there was a 17% decline, matching our data, confirming that different approaches and different countries had the same impact from the pandemic."
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