Pandemic leads to declines in breast, cervical cancer screenings

Delays in cancer screening caused by the COVID-19 pandemic threaten to increase health disparities, according to researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The researchers looked at breast and cervical cancer screenings among low-income women in the first half of 2020. In April of that year, federally funded breast and cervical cancer screening tests fell 87% and 84% respectively. In some regions and among some ethnic groups, the declines exceeded 90%. Women of color in the United States already faced a disproportionate burden of cervical and breast cancers before the pandemic. (CDC news release, 6/30/21)