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Delaying the treatment of cancer for a month increases the patient’s risk of mortality, warns a study published on Wednesday, which reinforces the conclusion of other research on the side effects of the pandemic in other diseases.
The new coronavirus has caused unprecedented disruptions in access to health services worldwide. In a study published in the British medical journal “BMJ”, British and Canadian researchers analyzed the consequences of delayed treatment (surgery, radio and chemotherapy, etc.) in seven types of cancer, from 34 studies published in the last 20 years.
Outside the pandemic, “delays in treatment are an exception, but they can affect 10% or 15% of patients,” oncologist Ajay Aggarwal, one of the study’s authors, told AFP. He concluded that a month’s delay could increase the risk of death by between 6% and 13%. The longer the delay, the greater the risk.
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