Hearing a cancer diagnosis is scary. But getting that news during a global pandemic can be terrifying. If you are a cancer patient you probably have a lot of questions about how the Covid-19 crisis might affect you.
There was news early on saying that people with cancer who were infected with Covid-19 did not do as well as people without cancer. Ongoing research is unfortunately agreeing with these early concerns about an increased impact of this virus on cancer patients. New research shows more deaths among Covid-19 patients who have cancer than those who do not have cancer.
Yet there is some unexpected good news in the newest research.
Yes, the death rate was higher for cancer patients with Covid-19. But this was not because of the cancer treatment. Chemotherapy and other cancer treatments did not increase the deaths. The reason that more people with cancer died from Covid-19 was because they were more likely to have other factors that hurt their survival chances. This included being an older age and having multiple health problems.
It is a very difficult time to navigate decisions around cancer treatment. For some, it might make sense to adjust treatment timing or change other cancer treatment elements. But it’s important to remember that not treating cancer also comes with risk and could cause more deaths than Covid-19 itself.
Talk to your doctor about the risks associated with delaying your cancer treatment during the Covid- 19 pandemic.
Remember, you can count on BioPlus in these tough times, and in the better days ahead.