Ireland’s cancer outcomes remained stable over the Covid-19 pandemic and there is no clear evidence to date of lasting harm to early survival or mortality, a new report has found.
The State’s cancer services faced significant disruption during the first phase of the pandemic, with concerns being raised that people would be seen later than usual, receive a diagnosis at a later stage and thus have poorer outcomes.
However, National Cancer Registry Ireland (NCRI), the central database for cancer information, published a new report on Wednesday which found there was “no evidence of lasting impact on early cancer survival or mortality due to early diagnostic delays in 2020″.
The report found there was non-consistent rise in late-stage cancers following the pandemic and that survival rates for all cancer sites in 2020 to 2021 remained in line with previous years.
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Cancer diagnoses dropped sharply (27 per cent) in early 2020 as Covid-19 disrupted health services, the report acknowledged, but said the system “reconfigured quickly during the pandemic and recovered quickly after”.
The report found most of the reduction was in the four most common sites – breast, colorectal, prostate, and lung. The drop in diagnoses was largely attributed to the curtailment of screening services.
By 2022, the number of diagnosed cases had largely returned to expected levels with no sustained shift toward more advanced disease.
The report added that cancer deaths increased slightly during the period of 2020 to 2022, but this was in line with expected demographic trends, not pandemic-specific effects.
Prof Deirdre Murray, director of NCRI, said the data in the report gives “reassurance to patients and their families”.
“The worry was that because of the initial drop in detection, people would present later with more advanced disease. This did not happen,” she said.
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“Our data in the NCRI is quality-assured and is the definitive and authoritative metric for cancer control in Ireland. The data show that while the initial shock of the pandemic affected how and when cancers were diagnosed, the health services reconfigured at pace and recovered at pace, and there is no evidence to date of lasting harm to survival or mortality.”
The registry said that ongoing monitoring will be “essential” to understand any delayed impacts, but added that “early signs are positive”.
While longer-term effects cannot be entirely ruled out, the report says, current evidence suggests that cancer patients were safeguarded despite the unprecedented pressure of the pandemic.
