Cancer Screenings fell by up to 70% in the early months of COVID-19

The initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic coincided with a “dramatic” decline in preventive and elective health-care use, according to a recent analysis of millions of insurance claims. The resulting rise in telemedicine use, meanwhile, didn’t totally make up for the reduced in-person visits — and saw disparities along income, racial and ethnic lines.

For example, use of colonoscopy — a procedure often used to screen for colon cancer — decreased by about 70% for March and April relative to rates seen in March and April of 2019, according to the study published in JAMA Network Open.