The COVID-19 pandemic led to large declines in preventive services such as breast and cervical cancer screenings, and may have increased racial and socioeconomic disparities, according to research published July 2 in JAMA Health Forum.
Researchers led by Nora Becker, PhD, from the University of Michigan found that the overall odds of a woman receiving a given preventive service in 2020 was 20% to 30% lower than 2019.
The team looked at 685,373 women in Michigan ages 18 to 74. This included nonwhite and non-English-speaking populations.
For services requiring an in-person visit, such as cancer screening, utilization declined by 60% to 90% during the spring of 2020, with the lowest points seen in April. By July, however, utilization for all services recovered to close to prepandemic levels.
The adjusted odds ratios of a woman receiving a given preventive service in 2020 compared with 2019 were significantly lower for breast cancer screening (0.80) and cervical cancer screening (0.80).
For some services, researchers noted there were small declines in utilization among women residing in zip codes that are lower-income with higher proportions of nonwhite and non-English-speaking residents.
The researchers wrote that further research into disparities in access to care and the health outcomes of decreased use of these health services is needed.
