Oncological care for patients in Russia continues to be in an unsatisfactory state in comparison with developed countries. Moreover, the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 made the situation even worse as the main medical forces were thrown into the fight against the virus. This has already reflected in the increase in the death rate of cancer patients in 2020 and will be reflected in the future, since the diagnosis of this kind of diseases in the early stages has greatly deteriorated last year. This is stated in the work of sociologist Ekaterina Fadeeva, excerpts from which are given in the blog "Interpreter".
To begin with, about the general situation with cancer in Russia.
“Every year, statistics on morbidity and mortality from cancer are growing. Over the past 5 years, the incidence of cancer in our country has increased by 12.4%. In 2017, 617,177 new malignant tumors were detected in Russia for the first time, in 2019 - more than 640 thousand. In 2019 alone, 295.5 thousand deaths from neoplasms were recorded in Russia.
According to research by the Higher School of Education, the standardized mortality rate from malignant neoplasms among the population of the Russian Federation in 2018 turned out to be 11% higher than in the “old” EU countries.
As of February 2020, there are not enough 2 thousand oncologists in Russian polyclinics. Comparative studies carried out in Russia and Western countries indicate a lack of funding for drug provision for Russian cancer patients. Per capita spending on drugs required for anticancer therapy in the Russian Federation is 7.6 times lower than in the United States and 3.5 times lower than in France. "
Now about how covid affected the situation with cancer patients.
“The National Medical Research Center of Hematology of the Ministry of Health of Russia conducted a survey to check the availability of basic medicines in medical institutions in the regions of Russia. As a result, nearly three dozen scarce cancer drugs were identified, which form the basis of treatment protocols. The situation can be characterized as critical, since this is a group of inexpensive and not the most popular anticancer drugs, but at the same time, indispensable for the treatment of some types of malignant neoplasms. In 2020, the production of these medicines in our country has dropped sharply. Up to 75% of applications for participation in the public procurement procedure for a number of such medicines were left without an offer.
According to the results of a study by the Institute of Oncology "Hadassah Moscow", conducted in nine regions of Russia among cancer patients with confirmed coronavirus during PCR diagnostics, the mortality rate from COVID-19 was 18%. This is 4 times higher than among coronavirus patients without a basic cancer diagnosis.
In the spring of 2020, doctors faced a situation of the need to "triage" cancer patients: those whose condition required emergency medical care received it, but everyone else was forced to postpone hospitalizations, interrupt or postpone chemotherapy, radiation or drug therapy until the epidemiological situation improved...
Meanwhile, a long-term failure to provide planned care to such patients can lead to a significant deterioration in their condition and the formation of unfavorable long-term outcomes, and an untimely diagnosis of cancer can lead to a decrease in the effectiveness of subsequent treatment and an increase in the likelihood of death. In the previously mentioned study of the Hadassah Moscow Institute of Oncology, most patients interrupted / postponed treatment for the underlying cancer. At the same time, relapses were recorded in 11% of cases, in the majority - progressive and characterized by metastasis.
The curtailment of screening programs in the context of a pandemic has already led to the fact that the detection of cancer at an early stage has decreased by 50%.