Trends in Medical Check-up Examinees and Number of Cancers Detected during the COVID-19 Pandemic at Our Hospital

Abstract

　There is concern about a decrease in opportunities for early cancer detection due to reluctance to undergo health checkups as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The total number of persons who underwent health checkups at our hospital before (FY 2019) and after (FY 2020, FY 2021) the COVID-19 pandemic and malignant diseases detected in health checkups were tabulated by site (breast, colon, lung, stomach, uterus, prostate, and others), and the proportion of early cancers was determined within the range that could be retrieved. Travel medical checkups were greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, falling significantly from FY 2019 (134,906) to FY 2020 (95,745), and not reaching the level before the COVID-19 pandemic in FY 2021 (112,004). Outpatient medical checkups showed an increasing trend (29,144 in FY 2019, 35,087 in FY 2020, and 43,873 in FY 2021), partly due to the relocation of this hospital to the Minato Mirai area in April 2020, which increased the number of patients accepted. The total number of examinees did not recover to the level before the COVID-19 pandemic (FY 2019) in FY 2021, due to a large drop in traveling medical examinations. The number of cancers detected was not in proportion to the total number of examinees, but showed an increasing trend (177 cases in FY 2019, 200 cases in FY 2020, and 214 cases in FY 2021). The increase in the number of colorectal cancers detected in FY2020 was particularly marked (30 cases in FY2019 to 59 cases in FY2020), and reports of early-stage cancers increased; however, the proportion of early-stage cancers in the total number of cancers detected showed a downward trend (38.5% in FY2019, 36.2% in FY2020, 35.1% in FY2021). Even in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no change in the importance of health checkups and preventive medicine, and we will continue our health checkup services by thoroughly implementing infection control measures at health checkup sites and striving to improve accuracy control.