I am a writer, journalist, professor, systems modeler, computational and digital health expert, avocado-eater, and entrepreneur, not always in that order.The Covid-19 pandemic and the botched handling of it have been tragic in many different ways. One of the still emerging tragedies has been delays in the diagnoses of and care for other types of medical conditions because people weren’t being seen in clinics and hospitals as regularly as they should have.
Let’s assume then that the U.S. had a similar rate of missed prostate cancer diagnoses as England did. The 20,000 in England number would mean that potentially well over a hundred thousand men in the two countries have been or will be left wondering, “What if?” What if the U.S. and U.K.
These analyses showed a lot of should’ve, could’ve, would’ves. The year 2020 saw a 4,772 drop in the reported incidence of prostate cancer while 2021 saw a 3,148 case drop. The patient’s average age at diagnosis moved up too from 71.3 in 2019 to 71.6 in 2020 and 71.8 in 2021. Adding the 4,772 and the 3,148 case numbers gives you about 8,000. Dividing that by 40% leaves you with around 20,000 cases.
And the timing of diagnosis is key in the treatment of any type of cancer and your odds of survival. Dason described prostate cancer as “treatable” but emphasized that a delay in diagnosis “does increase the chance of it spreading to other parts of the body. This in turn influences treatment.” Spread of the cancer beyond the prostate can significantly reduce your chance of survival and increase the scope and types of treatments that you need.