News | Coronavirus (COVID-19) | December 07, 2020

16% of people believe they have developed a medical condition since the coronavirus crisis started but have not seen a doctor because they worry about getting COVID-19

16% of people believe they have developed a medical condition since the coronavirus crisis started but have not seen a doctor because they worry about getting COVID-19

December 7, 2020 — New research* from Zegami, an Oxford based medical image analysis platform, reveals that 29% of people say they have a known and diagnosed medical condition but since the Coronavirus crisis started they have avoided seeing a doctor or visiting hospital because they are worried about contracting COVID-19. In terms of gender, one in three women (34%) and one in four men (24%) admit to this.

Zegami, which has recently developed a system to analyze large numbers of mammograms and identify abnormalities, which is the first stage of breast cancer screening, says its research reveals that as many as 254,000 people with cancer may have avoided seeing their doctor or visiting hospital because of fears around COVID-19.

Zegami’s research also found that 16% of people believe they have developed a medical condition since the coronavirus crisis started but decided not to see a doctor, again because of fears about COVID-19.  Some 101,000 people believe their condition could be cancer.   

In terms of those people who have known diagnosed medical conditions and have avoided seeking medical help during the crisis, 21%  said it was for mental health issues, followed by 14% who said they have skin conditions and 9% who have eye health issues.  Some 7% said it was related to their heart conditions, and 2% to cancer.

Of those people who believe they have developed medical conditions during the crisis but have not sought a medical diagnosis for fear of catching COVID-19,  22% say it is linked to their mental health, followed by 13% who say it is a skin condition. Some 7% fear they have developed a heart condition during the crisis, and 1% - nearly 101,000 people - think they may have cancer.         

Roger Noble, CEO and founder of Zegami said: “Our findings are very alarming. The NHS is currently running a high profile campaign urging people to get medical help if they think they have developed any medical conditions during the crisis, and to keep to any health appointments they have for existing conditions. Its Help Us Help You access campaign is backed by celebrities including TV chefs Gordon Ramsay, Nadiya Hussein, and actress Emma Thompson, and we fully support this.”

Zegami’s newly developed system for analyzing large numbers of mammograms and identifying abnormalities uses the recently announced Medical Imaging Server for DICOM from Microsoft.  The system also allows scientists to develop machine learning models to automate this analysis, making it faster and more accurate.

Initial mammogram data for the system has been sourced from The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA)  and consists of 3,486 DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) images, which while anonymized, includes pathology data, allowing this to be factored into the analysis.  One example of the analysis is a map of the "calcification" breast cancer abnormalities - the system highlights regions distinctly containing examples with little light areas, which are typically the benign (without a callback) instances.

*Zegami commissioned the market research company Consumer Intelligence to survey 1,021 people from across the UK.  They represented the UK’s demographic profile.  Interviews were conducted online between 13 and 16 November 2020.    

For more information: www.zegami.com


Related Content

News | Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

December 6, 2023 — Royal Philips, a global leader in health technology, showcased the world’s first mobile MRI system ...

Time December 06, 2023
arrow
News | Radiopharmaceuticals and Tracers

December 6, 2023 — Philochem AG, a wholly owned subsidiary of Philogen S.p.A., and Blue Earth Diagnostics, a Bracco ...

Time December 06, 2023
arrow
News | Enterprise Imaging

December 6, 2023 — NVIDIA launched a cloud service for medical imaging AI to further streamline and accelerate the ...

Time December 06, 2023
arrow
Feature | Radiology Business | By Melinda Taschetta-Millane

During the month of November, many industry professionals were busy preparing for the Radiological Society of North ...

Time December 05, 2023
arrow
News | Pediatric Imaging

December 1, 2023 — The Radiation Oncology Program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is one of only a few in the country ...

Time December 01, 2023
arrow
News | RSNA

December 1, 2023 — The Society of Breast Imaging (SBI) announced that Elizabeth Morris, MD, has been selected as the SBI ...

Time November 30, 2023
arrow
News | Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

November 30, 2023 — Royal Philips, a global leader in health technology, today launched three new fit for purpose MR ...

Time November 30, 2023
arrow
News | RSNA

November 30, 2023 — Hologic, Inc. showcased several recent developments in next-generation AI solutions at the 109th ...

Time November 30, 2023
arrow
News | Pediatric Imaging

November 30, 2023 — Youth baseball players are prone to elbow pain and injuries, including repetitive overuse changes ...

Time November 30, 2023
arrow
News | RSNA

November 30, 2023 — Breast cancer mortality is significantly reduced when women regularly attend screening mammograms ...

Time November 30, 2023
arrow
Subscribe Now