Screening for colon cancer using a simple test for hidden blood in faeces can save thousands of lives. That is the conclusion of one of the largest studies carried out to date in Spain, which finds that this programme of early detection is associated with a 50% reduction in mortality from colorectal cancer among people aged 50 to 69.
The research, published this Wednesday in the journal JAMA Network Open, tracked how the disease evolved over 21 years in a population of almost 2.2 million people in the Basque Country, a region in northern Spain. The findings show that the fall in deaths began just three years after the screening programme was introduced and has been sustained ever since.
