At least 3.5m mammograms missed in 2020
Mammographies dropped between 10-67% in Europe’s major markets last year as COVID-19 put a halt to most national screening programmes. At least 3.5m were missed.
The UK and Ireland saw the biggest falls in breast cancer screening programmes, with drops of two-thirds in 2020 versus 2019, and nearly a million missed appointments. Mammograms ensure that many breast cancers are diagnosed at an earlier stage.
The collective number of mammograms missed in the nine markets we’ve covered equals 3.5m.
Cancer diagnoses haven’t fallen as much, between 4-16% in different markets, meaning that many breast cancer cases are being picked up at a later stage. Based on available data there were 15,200 fewer breast cancer diagnoses in the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, Belgium and Italy.
Around 600,000 women and 6,000 men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in Europe.
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