The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have lasting effects on the medical community even years after it has ended. Researchers from King’s College London report that, in England, there has been a disproportionate impact of the pandemic on the diagnosis rates for several conditions, including COPD and asthma.
The study, “Time Trends in Newly Recorded Diagnoses of 19 Long-Term Conditions Before, During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Population-Based Cohort Study in England Using OpenSAFELY,” was published in the British Medical Journal.
While depression topped the list of underdiagnosed conditions (diagnoses were 27% lower than expected, compared with pre-pandemic trends), the diagnosis rate was also lower for asthma (16.4%), COPD (15.8%) and osteoporosis (11.5%), according to a news release.
The study also examined the differences in how diagnosis rates recovered across ethnic and socioeconomic groups. For example, dementia diagnoses recovered to pre-pandemic levels for individuals of white ethnicity and those living in less deprived areas. However, they remained lower than expected among other ethnic groups and in more deprived communities.
The researchers said that diagnosis rates in England may be influenced by increasing pressures on the National Health Service, suggesting it is taking longer for people to be formally diagnosed. Backlogs in diagnostic testing for asthma, COPD and osteoporosis are likely a key factor in the dropping diagnosis rates for these conditions, the researchers concluded.
The study used data from OpenSAFELY, a highly secure and anonymized NHS data platform, to analyze the disease trends for 29 million people between April 2016 and November 2024.
