An additional 500,000 people worldwide may have died of cancer from 2008-2010, locked out of treatment by unemployment and health care cuts caused by the financial crisis, a healthcare study said Thursday.

"From our analysis we estimate that the economic crisis was associated with over 260,000 excess cancer deaths in the OECD alone, between 2008-2010," study author Mahiben Maruthappu of Imperial College London told AFP.

"This suggests that there could have been well over 500,000 excess cancer deaths worldwide during this time."