Prostate Cancer Deaths Tripled During Pandemic: Study
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Prostate Cancer Deaths Tripled During Pandemic: Study
A new UK-based study reveals disturbing data: the death rate for males with prostate cancer has tripled within the first year of the pandemic. Statistics show about 5,000 more deaths of men with prostate cancer during Covid, despite fewer diagnoses.
Prostate cancer, a slow-growing disease that affects one gland in the male reproductive system, is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer in men.
I study: Prostate Cancer UK, a charity, conducted an in-depth analysis of NHS hospital data and found significant changes in the diagnosis and treatment of the condition, with cases being discovered much later when the cancer is less treatable.
The survival rates for prostate cancer in the first two stages are nearly 100%. But for people who are receiving phase four treatment, the rates drop to around 50%.
The discoveries: Diagnosis of advanced prostate cancer increased from 12.7% to 15.5% during the pandemic. According to the study, the overall death rate for men with prostate cancer also increased from 7% before the pandemic to 26% in the first nine months of the pandemic.
With a death rate of 18% in the following nine months, from January 2021 to September 2021, the number of deaths remained high.
According to statistics comparing diagnoses between October 2018 and March 2020 with the year starting April 2020, the percentage of men diagnosed under the age of 75 has decreased by about four percentage points.
The researchers also showed that cases were discovered more frequently in older individuals, increasing the likelihood of a progressive condition.
India Monday reported 5,221 Covid cases and 15 deaths. The cumulative workload is 4.45.00.580 (47.176 active cases) and 5.28.165 deaths
Worldwide: Over 608 million cases and over 6.51 million victims.
Vaccination in India: over 2.15 billion doses. Worldwide: over 12.19 billion doses.
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The long Covid is linked to depression, and perhaps also to the risk of suicide
The potential long-term effects of Covid-19 are poorly understood, with governments and scientists only now beginning to systematically study the area as they emerge from a pandemic that has in turn blinded much of the world.
An analysis for Reuters conducted by Seattle-based health data company Truveta showed that patients with long-term Covid were nearly twice as likely to receive an antidepressant prescription for the first time within 90 days of their initial Covid diagnosis compared to people diagnosed with Covid alone.
The analysis was based on data from 20 major U.S. hospital systems, including over 1.3 million Covid-positive adults and 19,000 with a long-term Covid diagnosis between May 2020 and July 2022.
Worldwide, nearly 150 million people are estimated to have long developed Covid during the first two years of the pandemic, according to the University of Washington Independent Global Health Research Center IHME.
And it drove many out of work – about 4.5 million in the United States alone, Brookings Institution labor expert Katie Bach told Congress in July.
The debilitating and long-lasting condition reduces overall health by 21% on average, similar to total deafness or a traumatic brain injury, adds IHME.
Furthermore, there is potentially a link with a higher incidence of suicides. India recorded over 1.64 lakh deaths from suicides in 2021, an average of nearly 450 per day or 18 per hour.
The figures have reached the highest level for any calendar year so far, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau’s “Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India – 2021” report.
The report revealed that the number of suicide deaths ranged between 1.29 lakh and 1.39 lakh between 2017 and 2019. But then it increased beyond the 1.50 lakh mark in 2020 and 2021.
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Written by: Rakesh Rai, Sushmita Choudhury, Jayanta Kalita, Prabhash K Dutta Research: Rajesh Sharma
