The latest statistics of bowel screening in Scotland indicate that the number of men undergoing screening for bowel cancer is the highest till date.
In November 2017, Scotland introduced a simpler home-based screening test for bowel cancer called Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT), becoming the first country in the UK to do so. FIT requires a single sample of bowel motion as opposed to the traditional Faecal Occult Blood Test (FOBT) which requires collection of three samples over a 10-day period.
The uptake of bowel cancer screening using FIT among men between November 2017 and October 2018 was 61.6 per cent compared with 52.3 per cent using FOBT during the year before. Uptake in the most deprived areas rose from 41.7 per cent to 51.7 per cent. There was a significant increase in the uptake among those with no history of participation from 7.8 per cent to 18.9 per cent. The overall uptake of bowel cancer screening using FIT in both men and women increased from 55 per cent to 64 per cent.
Joe FitzPatrick, The Public Health Minister, said: "It is particularly encouraging to see an increase in participation from groups who tend to have lower uptake, including men and those who live in more deprived communities."
