There has been an increase of 5,000 prostate cancer deaths during the pandemic, despite fewer diagnoses, Prostate Cancer UK reports. The charity found significant changes in the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer over the past 2-3 years in a review of NHS hospital data. According to them, the disease was diagnosed at a more advanced stage, when it is already difficult to treat. Prostate cancer mortality tripled in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, they also found. The data were presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology congress in Paris last Sunday. According to the data, the overall mortality rate for men with prostate cancer increased from 7% before the pandemic to 26% in the first nine months of the pandemic. There was an 18% increase in mortality in the following nine months, from January 2021 to September 2021 – the number of fatal cases remained significantly high. According to studies, much of this growth is unrelated to deaths due to Covid-19. According to statistics comparing diagnoses made between October 2018 and March 2020, the proportion of men diagnosed who were under the age of 75 fell by around four percentage points. A growing percentage of cases were not detected before emergency medical attention was sought. Prostate cancer cases have been found to be more common in older people, which is associated with an increased likelihood of being diagnosed at an advanced stage of the disease. The survival rate for prostate cancer in the first two stages of the disease is almost 100%. In patients with advanced disease, survival rates drop to around 50%. Source: The Economic Times