Over 50 percent don't go for new bowel cancer test

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-09/cru-ofp091815.php

Public Release: 21-Sep-2015
Over 50 percent don't go for new bowel cancer test
Cancer Research UK

MORE than half of people invited to take a new bowel cancer screening test didn't take up the opportunity - even though it could stop them developing or dying from the disease, according to a Cancer Research UK report published today in the Journal of Medical Screening.*

Cancer Research UK scientists found that people from poorer neighbourhoods were less likely to take up screening, with only one third in the most deprived neighbourhood going for their appointment compared to over half in the most affluent.

•••••

In the most ethnically diverse area, 39 per cent decided to have the test compared to 45 per cent of people in the least ethnically diverse area. And more men (45 per cent) took the potentially life-saving test than women (42 per cent).****

The NHS Bowel Scope Screening Programme offers a one-off test to 55-year-olds that involves a specially trained nurse or doctor using a flexible tube, with a tiny camera on the end, to look inside the large bowel. The test helps prevent bowel cancer by finding and removing pre-cancerous polyps. It can also detect cancer that has already started to develop, before symptoms are noticed and when it's easier to treat.

•••••