2023-06-14 09:58:54
On the one hand, the bowel cancer screening program is bearing fruit in a reduction in the incidence. On the other hand, there are concerns: turnout at the first call for the bowel cancer population screening has fallen by more than 10% since 2018. A signal for RIVM to investigate whether there are other reasons for not participating than those known so far.
Iris Lansdorp is a senior researcher in the modeling of bowel cancer, among other things, at the Department of Public Health at Erasmus University Rotterdam. She contributed to both a population study into the incidence of bowel cancer and the National Evaluation Report of the 2018-2021 bowel cancer population screening. The first study brought good news.1 In the period after the start of the population screening, the incidence of colorectal cancer, especially the advanced forms that are difficult to treat, decreased. “We expect that the population screening will prevent 2,500 bowel cancer deaths per year. We cannot yet investigate mortality reduction, but with what we are seeing now, things seem to be moving in the right direction.”
“The trend is that participation in population screening is lower at lower ages”
Senior researcher Prof. Dr. Iris Lansdorp
Falling participation
However, the National Evaluation Report of the Population Screening for Bowel Cancer 2018-2021 showed a decreasing trend in participation in the population screening. In 2018, the turnout of men at the first call was 70% and of women 75%.2 Since 2018, this percentage has fallen to 62, 59 and
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