A radiologist uses a magnifying glass to check mammograms for breast cancer in Los Angeles, May 6, 2010. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)2025-04-21T21:27:36Z Many Americans were forced to postpone cancer screenings colonoscopies, mammograms and lung scans for several months in 2020 as COVID-19 overwhelmed doctors and hospitals.But that delay in screening isnt making a huge impact on cancer statistics, at least none that can be seen yet by experts who track the data. Cancer death rates continue to decline, and there werent huge shifts in late diagnoses, according to a new report published Monday in the journal Cancer. Its the broadest-yet analysis of the pandemics effect on U.S. cancer data.In 2020, as the pandemic began, a greater share of U.S. cancers were caught at later stages, when theyre harder to treat. But in 2021, these worrisome diagnoses returned to prepandemic levels for most types of cancer.It is very reassuring, said lead author Recinda Sherman of the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries. So far, we havent seen an excess of late-stage diagnoses, which makes it unlikely that there will be higher cancer death rates tied to the pandemic. Similarly, the number of new cancer cases dropped in 2020, but then returned to prepandemic levels by 2021. The size of the 2020 decline in new cancers diagnosed was similar across states, despite variations in COVID-19 policy restrictions. The researchers note that human behavior and local hospital policies played more of a role than state policy restrictions. Late-stage diagnoses of cervical cancer and prostate cancer did increase in 2021, but the shifts werent large. The data analysis goes only through 2021, so its not the final word. We didnt see any notable shifts, Sherman said. So its really unlikely that people with aggressive disease were not diagnosed during that time period.The report was produced by the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Cancer Society.___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. CARLA K. JOHNSON Johnson covers research in cancer, addiction and more for The Associated Press. She is a member of APs Health and Science team. twitter mailto