Bowel test may provide health clues

The test for bowel cancer may also provide some insight into whether patients are at risk of other health problems, a study suggests.

Detecting “hidden” blood in stool is a commonly used method for bowel cancer screening.

Now a new study has found that when blood is detected in a person’s stool they are at an increased risk of death from other diseases, as well as bowel cancer. The NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme offers screening every two years to all men and women aged 60 to 74.

Researchers examined data on more than 130,000 people from Tayside who took part in the test and their increased risk of death from bowel cancer and other diseases.

The 2,714 patients with a positive result had a significantly increased risk of dying from colorectal cancer than those with a negative result.

But they also had a 58 per cent higher risk of death from other conditions. Having a positive result was significantly associated with increased risk of dying from circulatory disease, respiratory disease, digestive diseases, excluding bowel cancer, neuropsychological disease, blood and endocrine disease.

Deborah Alsina, chief executive of Bowel Cancer UK and Beating Bowel Cancer, said: “This interesting research highlights the importance of looking for hidden blood in your poo, which is routinely done as part of the bowel cancer screening programmes in the UK.”