The Léon Bérard center © Maxppp
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The treatment of chronic diseases has been telescope for a year with the waves of Covid-19. Delays in screening and deprogramming could have serious consequences on the mortality of these conditions in the medium term.
This is another health drama that has been playing out for more than a year and the start of the lockdown waltz. It goes under the radar of the rate of incidence, positivity or occupation of intensive care units. Chronic diseases, which represent the main causes of death in France, such as cancer or cardiovascular accidents appear, with a year of decline, as the collateral victims of the Covid-19 epidemic. The vicious circle started last March. “There have been postponed appointments, patients who have been lost or surgeries have been canceled. During the first confinement, my office was almost empty ”, remembers Florence Lapica, general practitioner in Lyon and local president of the MG France union. From March to May 2020, the Doctolib site recorded a 44% drop in appointment bookings with general practitioners and 71% with specialists. “In April 2020, families who had just had a baby did not even come to the check-ups for the first months”, glides Florence Lapica who notes with relief that the fear of consulting has faded.
Loss of luck
A desertion from medical offices which can have serious consequences. “I have patients who, because they did not dare to disturb the hospital services or were afraid of contracting Covid-19, arrive with larger lesions. Automatically, they will undergo chemotherapy and the prognosis is not good ”, notes Karima Nessah-Bousquet, gynecological surgeon at the Mermoz center. There are many reasons for the delay in treatment, but there is a single consequence: a loss of opportunity for patients. “Cancers and heart attacks kill more people every year than Covid-19. Chronic diseases, which account for 60% of Social Security spending, have been poorly tracked and we will pay for it in fewer years of life. Concentrating everything on the Covid, it’s a disaster ”, plague Christophe Prudhomme, spokesperson for emergency physicians in France.
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