COVID Restrictions ‘Possibly Contributed’ to Higher Cancer Mortality: Study

Medical workers treat a patient in the COVID-19 ward at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare system campus and medical center in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, on Jan. 11, 2022. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)

Restrictions imposed in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, including nationwide stay-at-home orders, could have resulted in a surge of cancer deaths during the first year of the pandemic, a study has found.

The study, published in the American Society of Clinical Oncology Journal on April 11, found a spike in the number of deaths with cancer as a contributing cause in 2020.

“The stay-at-home orders and the discontinuation of non-emergency treatment to limit hospital capacity and reduce transmission at the beginning of the pandemic may have resulted in delayed cancer screenings, diagnoses, and treatments, and possibly contributed to increased mortality,” said Jingxuan Zhao, senior associate scientist, health services research at the American Cancer Society and lead researcher on the study, according to an April 11 news release.

Individuals who have cancer were at higher risk of COVID-19 infection as well as experienced more severe symptoms due to their health conditions and treatment-related immune suppression, he added.

The study looked at deaths where cancer was listed as an underlying cause as well as deaths where cancer was listed as a contributing cause. Researchers found that the death rate with cancer as the underlying cause was lower in 2020 than in 2019, continuing a trend that began in 2015.

However, the death rate with cancer as a contributing cause was higher in 2020 compared to 2019, which reversed the falling trend that began in 2015.

The team found that the COVID-19 outbreak did not change the rate of deaths with cancer as an underlying cause in the first year of the pandemic. This was because delays in cancer diagnosis and treatment may not convert into more deaths in only a single year.

“Our study findings also suggest that the increase in death with cancer as a contributing cause was mainly due to the large number of people with COVID-19 disease listed as the underlying cause of death and cancer listed as a contributing cause of death, which reflected the disease burden from both the COVID-19 disease and cancer, indicating that people with cancer were especially vulnerable to COVID-19 disease and complications.

“We projected 19,703 more deaths with cancer as a contributing cause than expected on the basis of historical trends. Mirroring pandemic peaks, the monthly death rates with cancer as a contributing cause first increased in April 2020, subsequently declined in May and June 2020, and then increased again each month from July through December 2020 compared with 2019,” the study said.

Excess Deaths

A Feb. 22 study in the scientific journal eLife also discovered a discrepancy in death data during the pandemic. It identified that over 80 percent of excess deaths in the United States between March 1, 2020, and Jan. 1, 2022, are attributable to COVID-19.

The country’s estimated number of deaths during this period is 1.06 million. The study attributes 894,768 of these deaths to COVID-19. Between March 1, 2020, and Jan. 1, 2022, the United States had only reported 848,886 COVID-19 deaths.

Among the 25,300 excess deaths linked to Alzheimer’s, 70 percent were attributed to COVID-19. Seventy percent of excess deaths from diabetes and 73 percent of excess deaths from heart disease were also linked to COVID-19.

“While individuals under 25 years had a low overall excess death rate during the pandemic, we find that the contribution of indirect pandemic effects is even greater in this age group. In contrast, individuals over 65 years predominantly suffered from the direct consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection,” the study said.

Vaccine Deaths

According to a report published in March titled “The Vaccine Damage Project-Human Cost,” COVID-19 vaccines have also contributed to excess deaths in the United States. It identified 310,000 excess deaths in 2021 and 2022 due to COVID-19 inoculations.

In addition, an estimated 1.36 million individuals aged 16–64 who are actively engaged in the labor market became disabled.

The study calculated that 26.6 million individuals had been injured by COVID-19 vaccinations. Around 18 percent of the employed labor force in the 16–64 age group are estimated to have suffered injuries.

The total estimated economic cost for 2022 due to vaccine damage was $148 billion. This includes $5.6 billion in expenses from excess deaths, $52.2 billion due to loss of productivity from excess disabilities, and $79.5 billion due to excess lost work time.