Almost half less breast cancer research due to the corona crisis

Due to the corona crisis, almost half as many women will be screened for breast cancer in 2020 than a year earlier. The corona crisis put the population screenings for cancer on hold for a number of months. This is reported by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). Thursday.

Because a population screening was not possible for a while, fewer people received an invitation. Only 55 percent of the women in the target group received an invitation. In addition, fewer Dutch people underwent population screening for colorectal cancer: 1.8 million people of the 2.2 million from the target group received an invitation in 2020. cervical cancer 600,000 women were invited, instead of the 800,000 it was this year’s turn.

Slightly fewer people accepted the invitations for population screening for breast cancer and cervical cancer. According to the RIVM, invitees may have been afraid of Covid-19, so they decided not to attend the screening. Of the invited women, 7 in 10 participated in the breast cancer screening and 5 in 10 in the cervical cancer screening.

To catch up, more invitation letters are currently being sent, including to women who did not respond to the invitation last year. Some of them have since taken part in the population screening. In breast cancer research, participants now receive an open invitation instead of a fixed time and place. As a result, the absorption capacity is better utilized, according to the institute.