The COVID-19 pandemic knocked many women off schedule for important health appointments, a new study finds, and many didn’t get back on schedule even after clinics reopened. The effect may have been greatest in areas where such care is already likely falling behind experts’ recommendations.
The study, by healthcare researchers in the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, looks at screenings for breast cancer, cervical cancer and sexually transmitted infections (STI), as well as two types of birth control care: prescriptions for oral contraceptives and insertions of longer-acting devices.
For all of 2020, adult women covered by Michigan’s largest private health insurer were 20% to 30% less likely to receive these services than they were in 2019, according to the findings reported in JAMA Health Forum.
As expected, there was a sharp drop in most such care during Michigan’s first pandemic peak in March and April 2020. That includes the weeks when the state’s public health orders paused all non-essential healthcare, and many health clinics closed, to reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission and free up health providers for the surge of a brand-new disease caused by a little-understood virus.
But even after clinics reopened, there was no added increase in these services during the rest of the year to make up for lost time.
From July 2020 to the end of the year, women got most of these kinds of care at pre-pandemic levels, but not at higher levels that would catch up on missed care.
The reduction in social interaction during the pandemic, including reduced sexual activity among those not in relationships, may offset some of the risk of sexually transmitted infection or unplanned pregnancy. Birth control pill refills at pharmacies were lower for all of 2020, compared with 2019.
