Patients locked out of treatment due to global healthcare cuts, study says

According to a new study by Imperial College London, patients are being prevented from receiving treatment due to unemployment and healthcare cuts in England and around the world.

The data was collated by observing the rise in cancer deaths in accordance with every percentage increase in unemployment and every drop in public healthcare spending.

Mahiben Maruthappu of Imperial College London said: "From our analysis we estimate that the economic crisis was associated with over 260,000 excess cancer deaths in the OECD (34-member Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) alone, between 2008-2010.”

"This suggests that there could have been well over 500,000 excess cancer deaths worldwide during this time."

The research, published in the Lancet medical journal, calculated that for the European Union alone there was an additional 160,000 patient deaths relating to cancer who would not otherwise have died.

Maruthappu added: “Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide so understanding how economic changes affect cancer survival is crucial. We found that increased unemployment was associated with an increased cancer mortality, but that universal health coverage protected against these effects.

"This was especially the case for treatable cancers including breast, prostate and colorectal cancer."

The research involved examining World Health Organisation and World Bank statistics on more than 70 countries to analyse the relationship between unemployment, public healthcare spending and cancer mortality, from the years 1990-2010.

The researchers found that every one per cent increase in unemployment was associated with 0.37 additional cancer deaths per 100,000 people, while every one per cent drop in healthcare spending was associated with 0.0053 additional deaths per 100,000 people.

Rifat Atun of Harvard University, who co-authored the study, said: “In countries without universal health coverage, access to healthcare can often be provided via an employment package. Without employment, patients may be diagnosed late, and face poor or delayed treatment."