According to the latest research published in the British Journal of Cancer, awareness campaigns have improved the general public’s knowledge of bowel and lung cancer symptoms. The increased knowledge has directly resulted in a rise in the number of people seeking doctor’s advice.
It has been more than six years since the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative (NAEDI) was established to help improve cancer survival rates in the United Kingdom. The latest research suggests that the “Be Clear on Cancer” campaign produced:
- An increase of 27 to 42 per cent of people who understood that blood in their poo could be a symptom of bowel cancer.
- The number of people who understood that having a hoarse throat or a cough could possibly signal lung cancer increased from 41 to 50 per cent.
- Doctor’s visits for bowel cancer symptoms increased by 29 per cent.
- Doctor’s visits for lung cancer symptoms rose by 63 per cent.
Earlier breast cancer diagnosis could delay death
The results from this national campaign to raise awareness for bowel and lung cancer were just one of the topics that were included in this issue of the British Journal of Cancer. Other researchers were studying the mortality rate from breast cancer in elderly women which may have been delayed had they had their disease diagnosed at an earlier stage. What they found was that approximately 280 deaths from breast cancer could have been delayed by over five years for women aged over 75 in the UK if they were diagnosed earlier.
Melanoma prognosis could be improved
Researchers also studied the number of deaths from melanoma that could have been delayed had the diagnosis stage been the same for both women and men and if there was no difference between income groups. The study results shows that 215 deaths from melanoma could have been delayed in the UK by at least five years if men and women from all economic groups had the same amount of success in diagnosing the disease. The complete publication of all the papers focused on early cancer diagnosis came in advance of an Early Diagnosis Summit that will be held soon.
