Life-saving effect of NHS bowel cancer screening program revealed: cases drop 15% after roll-out of DIY kits offered to ALL over 50s

The population screening for bowel cancer has led to a ‘critical’ reduction in cases, according to a large-scale study.

Experts described the controls as ‘life-saving’ and urged people to join at the invitation of the NHS.

The tests identify abnormalities and help doctors find precancerous polyps, which can often be removed before they develop into tumors.

The incidence of colorectal cancer in the lower part of the colon fell by 15 percent after the introduction of the Bowel Cancer Population Screening (BCSP) in 2006.

The greatest reductions have been seen in men and in patients living in areas of greatest socioeconomic disadvantage, according to findings published in the journal Colorectal Disease.

This graph shows the average number of colorectal cancer cases per year in men and women (blue and pink lines, respectively) and across different age groups (blue and pink bars)

Screening was extended to all adults aged 60 to 74 years registered with a GP in England in 2010 and will be extended again to adults aged 50 and over in 2025.

Adults in this age group are automatically given an NHS screening kit for bowel cancer, known as a faecal immunohistochemical test (FIT), every two years.

Screening involves taking a small stool sample at home and sending it back to a lab, where it’s checked for traces of blood, which could be a sign of cancer.

Those with abnormal results are invited for further checkups, such as a colonoscopy, which can find precancerous or cancerous lesions.

Researchers from the University of Bristol and University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust analyzed data from the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service database.

They identified 541,515 adults diagnosed with colon cancer of screening age (60-74 years) between 2001 and 2017.

Of these, 44 percent of patients had tumors of the upper part of the colon and 56 percent had tumors of the lower part.

While the incidence of colon cancer initially peaked in the years following the introduction of the BCSP, it subsequently declined, with the greatest reduction in incidence observed in tumors of the lower colon.

In 2001, the incidence of lower bowel tumors was 11 percent higher in patients from the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived, and by 2017 it had dropped to 4 percent.

In addition, it was noted that men also experienced greater reductions than women over the time period of the study for tumors of both the upper and lower colon.

Adam Chambers, one of the study’s lead authors, said: ‘Our results show that one of the benefits of screening people for colorectal cancer is that there is a significant reduction in colorectal cancer incidence rates, mainly due to the detection and remove precancerous lesions. polyps on colonoscopy.

Colon cancer can cause you to have blood in your stool, a change in bowel habits, a lump in your bowel that can cause blockages. Some people also suffer weight loss as a result of these symptoms

BBC newsreader George Alagiah recently passed away after a nine-year battle with bowel cancer. The 67-year-old was diagnosed in April 2014 with stage 4 colon cancer, which had spread to his liver and lymph nodes.

Mr Alagiah presented a podcast for Bowel Cancer UK to raise awareness of the disease by interviewing patients and experts. And in May, he shared a tweet urging people to access free screening kits. “I wish I had access to one of these kits when I was first diagnosed nine years ago,” he wrote

“Future work should be aimed at reducing the incidence of upper colon tumors by increasing screening uptake through the use of the novel fecal immunohistochemical test (FIT) and improving the quality of colonoscopy.

‘We welcome the lowering of the age threshold for screening, because our research group has previously shown that the incidence of colorectal cancer is increasing rapidly in young adults.’

There are almost 43,000 bowel cancer diagnoses and 16,800 deaths each year in the UK.

More than nine out of 10 new cases (94 percent) are diagnosed in people over the age of 50, but colon cancer can affect anyone of any age.

Dr. Lisa Wilde, Director of Research and External Affairs at Bowel Cancer UK, says: ‘Screening is one of the best ways to detect bowel cancer early and in some cases prevent it from developing.

‘This study underlines the importance of bowel cancer screening and shows the impact of future improvements to the screening program to make it more effective.

‘Unfortunately, only one in ten patients are diagnosed with bowel cancer through the national bowel cancer screening programs in England and Wales.

‘Screening can detect colon cancer or pre-cancer before symptoms appear, so if you are invited for screening, please participate, as it could save your life.

‘And if you’ve lost or thrown away your kit, you can request a new one by going to the NHS bowel cancer screening website.’