Your doctor’s Rx for a healthy 2022: Stop delaying health care

Cancer did not wait for the pandemic to end, and early local numbers suggest that the rate of breast cancer is ticking up in part because women delayed routine medical screenings out of fear of infection from the new coronavirus.

Doctors in the Cincinnati region say that while demand for their services rose in 2021 after a pandemic-induced slump in 2020, they still are not seeing patients at 2019 levels. The doctors reiterated a warning, which health care leaders have expressed through the pandemic: Delayed medical care could mean a rise in cancer, heart disease, mental illness, asthma, diabetes and other ailments.

“The numbers are still low,” said Dr. Mary Mahoney, chief of imaging at UC Health. “If somebody wants to make a new year’s resolution about getting back into their health care maintenance, that would be a good idea.”

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