Learning Lessons from across Europe: Prioritizing Lung Cancer after COVID-19

The report examines how the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the lung cancer pathway in Europe, leading to significant delays in diagnosis and treatment. It highlights the overlapping symptoms of lung cancer and COVID-19 as a barrier to early detection and recommends increased investment in technology, real-world data, and COVID-safe clinical spaces to improve patient outcomes.

• Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, and in Europe, the five-year survival rate is fewer than approximately 15%.
• The COVID-19 pandemic caused severe disruptions to lung cancer diagnosis; in the UK, some services saw a 75% reduction in urgent referrals for suspected lung cancer during the pandemic peak.
• Delays in lung cancer diagnosis in England due to COVID-19 system pressures are estimated to cause a 4.8% to 5.3% increase in avoidable deaths over the next five years, potentially totaling 1,372 additional deaths.
• The similarity in symptoms between lung cancer and COVID-19—such as cough, breathlessness, and fatigue—has complicated clinical identification and discouraged patients from seeking care.
• Despite evidence from trials like the Dutch-Belgian NELSON trial, which showed a 26% reduction in lung cancer deaths through CT screening, no national lung cancer screening programme has been implemented in Europe.
• The pandemic accelerated the adoption of virtual Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) meetings and telemedicine; in the UK, telemedicine for general medical consultations rose from 10% pre-pandemic to approximately 75% at the peak.
• Clinical trial recruitment was heavily interrupted across Europe, with only 14% of institutions continuing to enrol patients at pre-pandemic rates.
• Innovative diagnostic tools were trialled to mitigate biopsy delays, including liquid biopsies at The Royal Marsden and The Institute of Cancer Research in London to detect cancer biomarkers in the blood.
• The report recommends that Ministries of Health invest in separate COVID-19-free clinical spaces and targeted screening programmes to restore lung cancer presentation to pre-pandemic levels.

APA

World Economic Forum (2021). Learning Lessons from across Europe: Prioritizing Lung Cancer after COVID-19. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Learning_Lessons_from_across_Europe_Prioritizing_Lung_Cancer_after_COVID19_2021.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Learning Lessons from across Europe: Prioritizing Lung Cancer after COVID-19. 2021. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Learning_Lessons_from_across_Europe_Prioritizing_Lung_Cancer_after_COVID19_2021.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Learning Lessons from across Europe: Prioritizing Lung Cancer after COVID-19 |date=January 2021 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Learning_Lessons_from_across_Europe_Prioritizing_Lung_Cancer_after_COVID19_2021.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2021learning, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Learning Lessons from across Europe: Prioritizing Lung Cancer after COVID-19}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2021}, month = jan, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Learning_Lessons_from_across_Europe_Prioritizing_Lung_Cancer_after_COVID19_2021.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }