Even before the pandemic struck, health systems around the globe have struggled with delivering efficient cancer treatment to diagnosed patients. For instance, a 2019 BMC study conducted in Delhi indicated that there was, on average, a 334 day gap between lung cancer patients developing symptoms and the initiation of their treatment. The causes for these delays range from the financial burden and negligence on the patients’ end, to a shortage of resources and poor communication by treatment centers and oncologists. These routine hindrances have been further intensified by virus, which has strained health systems through the sudden spike in COVID-19 patients requiring intensive care, travel restrictions on oncology staff and telephone constellations replacing in-person appointments, all of which combined significantly worsen the usual standard of cancer care.
Although doctors and patients have long known that delaying cancer treatment can create adverse effects, the degree of these impacts has only recently been quantified when a team of researchers from Queen’s University in Canada analyzed the association between treatment delays and patient mortality rates. As detailed in their study published by the British Medical Journal in November 2020, the researchers reviewed relevant data published from January 2000 to April 2020 in order to understand how every 4 week delay treatment (either intervals between diagnosis and treatment or between termination of one treatment cycle and commencement of the next) influenced patient survival rates. The data they studied covered chemotherapy, radiation and surgery- the most commonly employed cancer treatment methods- as used on 7 different forms of cancer that represent 44% of worldwide cancer incidences.
Their study yielded appalling results that revealed a 10% increase in mortality for every 4 weeks that a patient’s treatment is delayed. Their analysis also found that an 8 and 12 week delay further increased mortality by 17% and 26% respectively.
This study has assigned hard numerical data to the risk associated with prolonged delays in cancer treatment, and emphasized the need for efficient cancer therapy systems.. The study authors stated that their aim was to ‘provide robust evidence to guide national policy making, specifically the prioritization and organization of cancer services’ and that their results lead them to the conclusion that ‘Policies focused on minimizing system level delays to cancer treatment initiation could improve population level survival outcomes.’ Thus, by stressing on the live-saving value of quick cancer treatment, this study has laid the foundation for reforming health systems around the globe.