Warning Europe is heading towards a cancer epidemic in the next decade due to pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic is predicted to set back cancer outcomes across Europe by almost a decade. According to research by Queens University, it has exposed weakness in cancer health systems with an estimated one million cancer diagnoses missed.
The report also found Brexit will continue to negatively impact European cancer research unless the EU and UK find a way for continued collaboration.
Researchers say prioritising cancer research is crucial for the delivery of more affordable, better, and equal care.
It sets a target of achieving 70% 10-year survival for all European cancer patients by 2035.
The research also calls for a doubling of the European cancer research budget, as well as prioritisation of underserved cancer research areas, including prevention and early diagnosis, radiotherapy and surgery, action on gender equality, and a deeper focus on survivorship.
Professor Mark Lawler of Queen's University Belfast, and chairman and lead author of the commission, said: "With the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, Brexit, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it is more important than ever that Europe develops a resilient cancer research landscape to play a transformative role in improving prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and quality-of-life for current and future patients and those living beyond cancer.
He added: "We estimate that approximately one million cancer diagnoses were missed across Europe during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"We are in a race against time to find those missing cancers."
"Additionally, we saw a chilling effect on cancer research with laboratories shut down and clinical trials delayed or cancelled in the first pandemic wave.
"We are concerned that Europe is heading towards a cancer epidemic in the next decade if cancer health systems and cancer research are not urgently prioritised".
"Our European Groundshot Commission provides crucial findings on the current landscape of cancer research, exposes the key gaps, and demands the prioritisation of European cancer research agendas over the next decade." The commission analysed data on the impact of coronavirus across Europe and found that clinicians saw 1.5 million fewer patients with cancer in the first year of the pandemic.
While one in two patients with cancer did not receive surgery or chemotherapy in a timely manner.
Additionally, 100 million cancer screening tests were missed, and it is estimated that up to one million European citizens might have an undiagnosed cancer due to the backlog, the report published in Lancet Oncology found.
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