The global financial crisis might have caused an additional 500,000 cancer deaths from 2008 to 2010, a new study said yesterday, with patients locked out of treatment because of unemployment and healthcare cuts.
The figures were extrapolated from an observed rise in cancer deaths for every percentage point increase in unemployment and every drop in public healthcare spending.
“From our analysis we estimate that the economic crisis was associated with over 260,000 excess cancer deaths in the OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] alone, between 2008-2010,” study author Mahiben Maruthappu of Imperial College London said. “This suggests that there could have been well over 500,000 excess cancer deaths worldwide during this time.”
For the EU alone, the estimate was 160,000 additional deaths — a term used to describe people who would not otherwise have died.
For the US, the estimate was 18,000 and for France 1,500. For Spain and Britain, which provide universal healthcare, no additional deaths were calculated.
The study was published in The Lancet medical journal.
“Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide so understanding how economic changes affect cancer survival is crucial,” Maruthappu said.
In 2012, cancer caused about 8.2 million deaths.
“We found that increased unemployment was associated with an increased cancer mortality, but that universal health coverage protected against these effects,” Maruthappu said. “This was especially the case for treatable cancers including breast, prostate and colorectal cancer.”
The researchers used WHO and World Bank statistics to analyze the link between unemployment, public healthcare spending and cancer mortality.
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