A recent report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has shown extremely low bowel cancer screening participation rates in males in their early 50s across Australia.
The report showed screening participation has dropped to 29% in males aged 50-54, with only 252,773 males in this age group returning a bowel cancer screening test in 2021-2022.
Approximately 860,000 Aussie males in this age group were invited to screen in this window, yet more than 600,000 of those did not return a bowel cancer screening sample for testing, despite receiving the screening kit in the mail.
Pathology Awareness Australia ambassador, Dr Nick Musgrave, is an Anatomical Pathologist who specialises in gastrointestinal pathology and finds the low number of men in their early fifties participating in the screening program “incredibly concerning”.
Dr Musgrave said, “When younger populations delay their bowel cancer screening test, they
are at risk of missing pre-malignant lesions that occur in the colon and as a result of this, these then progress to become more advanced lesions and invasive bowel cancer.”
“If bowel cancer is caught at an early stage, the patient can have much better outcomes and be cured. By putting off the test until an older age when people perceive they are at higher risk, we miss the opportunity to intervene and provide a cure, which is really tragic.”
Under the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBSCP), Australians aged 50-74 are sent testing kits in the mail every two years to collect a faecal sample that is then posted to a pathology laboratory to be examined.
The bowel cancer test is simple, free of charge, non-invasive, and can be done in private at home.
Erik Carapetian (pictured, with wife Annie) was 50 years old when he completed and returned a routine bowel cancer screening test as part of the NBSCP that resulted in a positive bowel cancer diagnosis.
Mr Carapetian said, “Soon after my 50th birthday I received the bowel cancer screening test kit in the mail and did it. It returned a positive result, so my GP referred me for a colonoscopy. When I woke up, the surgeon told me, ‘Today will probably be the worst
day of your life’ and he told me I had bowel cancer.”
To stop the cancer spreading, Erik underwent a 4.5 hour surgery to remove the bowel cancer, including the removal of a third of his colon.
“Thankfully, they caught it at an early stage and it wasn’t life threatening. I was informed when in hospital that if it was 3-6 months later, it would have been a different and more dangerous situation,” he said.
Prior to his bowel cancer diagnosis, Erik says he felt healthy, fit and well.
“I don’t smoke, I don’t really drink, I’m quite fit and am not overweight, so I never thought I could be at risk of getting any cancer at fifty years old. Three weeks before my diagnosis I didn’t even know what a colon was!”
“My advice to men like me is just do the test, it could save your life. I had no symptoms, but I am so lucky I did the test and my bowel cancer was caught early, and I have now fully recovered.”
According to the AIHW report, males had a lower participation rate, yet a concerningly higher screening test positivity rate than females in the same age group.
The report outlined that in 2022, 35,927 (6.8%) males aged 50-54 returned a positive bowel cancer screening test. Of the 285,819 females in this age group that returned a screening test, 29,005 (4.8%) returned a positive screening test.
The AIHW report showed overall NBCSP participation dropped to 40% in this time period, the lowest bowel cancer screening participation rate in a decade.
As of 1 July 2024, the eligible screening age for the program has been lowered so those aged 45-49 can now request their first bowel cancer screening kit.
“There is an enormous opportunity for Australia’s bowel cancer screening program to make a positive impact on health outcomes in the younger age groups. To achieve this it’s really
important that those aged 45+ do this simple 5-minute, non-invasive test as soon as they can,” said Dr Musgrave.
“Given this opportunity that the government provides to eligible Australians at no cost, it makes no sense for someone to not do a simple test that could save their life. No one wants to find out later in life that they have incurable cancer that was preventable. That
would be tragic for the patient and their family.”
A total of 11.4 million screening tests have been completed since the NBCSP launched in August 2006, but screening participation rates have not surpassed 44% since the program began.