Economic impact of avoidable cancer deaths caused by diagnostic delay during the COVID-19 pandemic: A national population-based modelling study in England, UK.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Delays in cancer diagnosis arose from the commencement of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) introduced in the UK in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our earlier work predicted this will lead to approximately 3620 avoidable deaths for four major tumour types (breast, bowel, lung, and oesophageal cancer) in the next 5 years. Here, using national population-based modelling, we estimate the health and economic losses resulting from these avoidable cancer deaths. We also compare these with the impact of an equivalent number of COVID-19 deaths to understand the welfare consequences of the different health conditions.

Methods

We estimate health losses using quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and lost economic productivity using the human capital (

SUBMITTER: Gheorghe A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8530528 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature