Many Australians in the age groups at greatest risk of developing bowel cancer are missing out on screening for the disease due to a lack of publicity for the testing program or because they have trouble reading English.
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The federal government announced at the weekend that it would spend $50 million expanding the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program.
Australians turning 50, 55 and 65 are currently posted a one-off free faecal occult blood testing kit. Eventually all Australians aged between 50 and 74 years will be offered a test every two years.
A study to be published in the Medical Journal of Australia today shows that only 43 per cent of people aged between 56 and and 88 in the Hunter region of NSW had ever had a faecal occult blood test.
Another paper published in the journal offers some answers to the question of why many Australians have failed to undergo free bowel cancer testing.
Researchers from Flinders University and the University of Sydney interviewed 120 people aged between 50 and 75, including many from non-English speaking backgrounds.
''Although people were willing to participate, they could not read the invitation or follow the instructions for sample collections,'' the study's authors wrote.
''This delayed or prevented participation. No participants knew translations were supplied or available on the NBCSP website.
''Most participants relied on family members to assist, leading to embarrassment.''
Some indigenous people told the researchers that they lacked sufficient privacy at home to complete the tests.
''In remote areas, even postal workers has intimate personal knowledge, creating potential embarrassment from mailed FOBT kits and samples.''
Some people who received test kits in the post wrongly believed that they had been identified as being at high risk of developing cancer and became anxious.
Cancer Council Australia chief executive Professor Ian Olver blamed a lack of take up for mailed bowel cancer testing on a lack of publicity for the program. But he said this should change now that the government had decided to expand the bowel cancer screening program.
''Because the program has been so rudimentary since its was introduced in 2006, there's really been no opportunity to do a decent public education campaign and to promote it,'' he said. ''But that will be fixed once it's ramped up and people between 50 and 74 are getting kits every two years. I think you can make more of an effort and then that will increase the participation rate.''
Professor Olver said more comprehensive screening could save up to 1500 lives in Australia each year. The early detection and removal of pre-cancerous polyps could spare many people from having to be treated for bowel cancer at all.
