Australians warned to get tested or brace for extra 1,000 cancer cases over 10 years – ABC News

A new study by Australian researchers has found the nation's healthcare system could be inundated with more than a thousand new cancer cases in the next six years if testing rates do not pick up.

The report looked into the impact of COVID-19 disruptions like lockdowns on bowel cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment in Australia, and found testing rates had fallen off around the country.

The study was published by PLOS One and was carried out by researchers at the University of New South Wales, the Daffodil Centre and the Cancer Council of New South Wales.

Bowel cancer is one of just three cancers that has a national screening program in Australia.

It's one of the most common forms of cancer and can be deadly if not detected and treated early.

Lead researcher Joachim Worthington said the COVID-19 pandemic had a crushing impact on how the Australian health system coped with the disease, and his team set out to find out why.

"At the end of March 2020, we really had no idea what was going to happen at hospitals or national screening programs," he said.

"We were looking into what would happen if, hypothetically, those cancer screening programs had to shut down.

"The main concern was people having these cancers and having them lie undetected because they aren't accessing health services."

Dr Worthington teamed up with researchers from Canada to begin modelling the impact of COVID-19 disruptions on the prevention, testing, diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer.

"We've got the official statistics saying that fewer people completed their bowel screening tests," he said.

"We've also got the official statistics saying that there were delays to people getting their cancer diagnosed, as well as getting their treatment after that."

According to the report, disruptions caused by the pandemic could lead to an extra 234 cancer cases and 1,186 deaths in Australia over 10 years, between 2020 and 2030.

"In Australia, COVID disruptions were predicted to lead to a 2.4 per cent increase in mortality compared with a scenario with no screening disruption or diagnostic treatment delays," the report reads.

The research found Australia experienced a 7 per cent decrease in screening, an 11.7 per cent decrease in diagnoses and up to a 7 per cent decrease in treatment, spanning COVID-19-era cancer control data.

While the results were confronting, Dr Worthington said the teams also worked together to model what "mitigation" would look like in patients.

That is, what would start happening if Australians got back into regular bowel cancer screenings and testing.

If mitigated, the report found, Australia would record 842 deaths rather than the predicted 1,186.

"It's a simple test, but only 40 per cent of Australians do it," Dr Worthington said.

"There'sdefinitely scope for a lot more people to get into screening or return to screening if they've lost that habit over the pandemic.

"It wasn't too long ago that we didn't have this screening program, and for a lot of cancers, we don't have the opportunity to detect these early.

"On a broader government level, we're just hoping to highlight the importance of the bowel cancer screening program, and make sure that's as resilient as possible in future when there's more disruptions if that ever comes around again."

Read more:

Australians warned to get tested or brace for extra 1,000 cancer cases over 10 years - ABC News