Fall in breast cancer cases detected by screening in first year of Covid
- Published
Routine breast cancer screening was paused at the start of the Covid pandemic
Breast cancer cases detected through routine screening fell by almost 44% during the first year of the Covid pandemic, figures show.
Data from Public Health Scotland, external showed 1,006 cancers were picked up by breast screening in 2020-2021, compared with 1,724 the previous year.
Routine screening for 50 to 70-year-olds was paused in March 2020.
The Scottish government said screening uptake in that age group continued to exceed the national target.
Public Health Scotland's report covers routine screening appointments between April 2020 and March 2021, finding a fall of 43.7% in detected cases.
The agency attributed the decline in detected cases to the pause in screening as the first wave of the Covid pandemic hit Scotland.
The programme was suspended between March and August 2020. No new invitations for screening were sent out during this period.
In the three years prior to the pandemic, an average of 259,040 women were invited annually to come forward for breast screening.
But the number of invitations issued fell by more than 100,000 to 151,977 in 2020-21.
Of those invited to be screened, 114,136 attended their appointments. This was a reduction of the annual average by 73,514.
Public Health Scotland also found the proportion of breast cancers picked up by screening fell in the wake of Covid.
Its report said: "Over the previous 10 years, 52.7% of breast cancer registrations in women aged 50-69 were detected through the breast screening programme.
"However, with the Covid-19 pandemic causing a pause in the women being invited for screening, this number has dropped to 39%."
Deprived areas
Looking at the the three-year period from 2018-19 to 2020-21, Public Health Scotland figures show that 675,381 women aged between 50 and 70 were invited to attend a routine breast screening appointment.
Of these, a total of 494,653 attended for routine breast screening, meaning that 73.2% came forward - meeting the minimum acceptable standard of having 70% attend for routine screening.
The report found that six in 10 women living in the most deprived areas of Scotland attended appointments, compared with eight in 10 women in the most affluent areas.
The only health board that failed to meet the 70% uptake target was NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, where only 68.5% of women attended for routine screening over the three years 2018-19 to 2020-21.
The screening programme aims to find breast cancers early
A Scottish government spokesperson said: "Uptake for routine breast screening continues to exceed the national target of 70% in women aged 50-70.
"We will continue to tackle inequalities in all cancer screening programmes through a £2m investment and ongoing work to improve our breast screening programme.
"As a result of the pandemic, self-referrals for women over 71 have been paused since March 2020 so that capacity can be prioritised for women between 50 and 70 for whom screening is recommended.
"We are working towards the re-introduction of the screening programme for self-referrals by September this year."
Younger women are not offered routine screening as their risk increases with age, according to NHS Inform.