How Did COVID-19 Affect the Diagnosis of Chronic Diseases and Opportunities for Early Treatment?
The effects of the "COVID-19" pandemic did not stop at infections and deaths; it left a hidden mark on public health, represented by a huge decline in the diagnosis of chronic diseases, leaving millions of people undiagnosed or untreated for years.
This was revealed by a recent study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), which relied on the analysis of anonymized health data for approximately 30 million people in England.
As the pandemic spread, health systems redirected their resources to deal with emergency cases, routine appointments were canceled, and visits to family doctors and non-COVID hospitals declined by about a third during the initial months.
Specialty clinics were also halted, and essential diagnostic tests were postponed, which directly reflected on the rates of long-term disease detection.
The study showed that the decline was most pronounced in diseases that rely on routine tests or specialized assessments:
• Asthma: Diagnosis declined by more than 30% in the first year.
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): Diagnosis dropped by more than 50% due to the disruption of breathing tests and the accumulation of waiting lists.
• Skin diseases such as psoriasis and atopic dermatitis: Were severely affected due to patients' reluctance to seek care and delays in referrals to specialists.
• Osteoporosis: Diagnosis decreased by about a third, depriving thousands of people of preventive treatment that could prevent serious fractures, and diagnosis rates did not recover until about three years later.
Between March 2020 and November 2024, more than 50 thousand cases were diagnosed less than expected in England, representing a lost opportunity for early prevention and improvement of public health.
While diagnosis rates began to gradually return after the initial disruption of the pandemic, diverse patterns emerged among cases:
1 _ Depression: Its diagnosis declined by about 30% in the first year, then partially improved before declining again since 2022, despite increased disability claims related to mental disorders, indicating a change in access to treatment rather than a real improvement in mental health.
2 _ Chronic Kidney Disease: Diagnoses doubled since 2022, exceeding pre-pandemic levels, due to updated medical guidelines for routine screening of at-risk groups, such as diabetes and hypertension patients, along with the availability of new treatments that make early detection more important.
The study highlighted a positive aspect, which is the use of secure and rapid analysis of health data, allowing for the near-instantaneous monitoring of pathological changes, whereas detection used to take years.
And although the pandemic disrupted healthcare and created concerning gaps, it also pushed towards the development of more advanced monitoring tools, giving health systems a better chance to address crises early and reduce their hidden costs on community health.
