NEW YORK - The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically disrupted cancer screenings, which will create the next health care crisis and overwhelm the health system in the United States, US media outlet Vox reported.

The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a crushing blow to the preventive services that can catch potential health problems before they become life-threatening, the report said on Monday.

Screenings for several major cancers fell significantly in 2020, according to a study published in the journal Cancer in December 2021.

In 2020, numbers of colonoscopies dropped by nearly half compared to 2019, prostate biopsies decreased by more than 25 percent, the study found.

Some health experts are concerned that the delayed diagnoses of various cancers and other chronic, life-threatening illnesses - the result of COVID-19's disruption to routine checkups and screenings -- will be the next crisis that overwhelms the US health system.

"Our next surge will be advanced chronic disease," Steve Serrao, chief of gastroenterology at a hospital in US California told Vox.

"That's going to be the next surge of patients who overwhelm our system. I don't think our systems are ready," he said.