YOUTHFULNESS SHOULD NOT BE A BARRIER TO TIMELY BOWEL CANCER DIAGNOSIS BOWEN THERAPY

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• Early-onset bowel cancer patients perceive age bias as a barrier to diagnosis for the deadliest cancer in people aged 25-44.

• Latest Australian research fnds younger people may spend between 3 months and 5 years seeing multiple doctors before diagnosis. They may make 10 or more visits to GPs.

• Over the past three decades, there has been a 266% increase in bowel cancer incidence rates in adolescents and young adults (15- 24 years).

Latest Australian research* reveals younger people with bowel cancer symptoms fnd themselves selfadvocating as the only consistent and reliable resource for overcoming age bias, barriers to diagnosis, and optimising outcomes for the deadliest cancer in those aged 25-44.

Published in the BMJ Open and BMC Primary Care, the studies are the frst to investigate the perspectives of earlyonset bowel cancer patients’ regarding ways to improve experiences of care in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

Chief Investigator, Dr Klay Lamprell, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, said ‘Young people with bowel cancer say the same the world over. Because they are young, they are overlooked for bowel cancer.’

‘The research found younger people may spend between three months and fve years seeing multiple doctors before diagnosis. They may make ten or more visits to GPs.’

‘Even when younger people experience blood in their poo or rectal bleeding, GPs may not immediately refer them to specialists for further testing,’ Dr Lamprell added.

Early-onset bowel cancer patients differ from later-onset bowel cancer patients in their diagnostic trajectories; time to diagnosis can

GPs’ low suspicion of cancer given their age as an age bias that shapes the nature of clinical assessments, infuences the investigations conducted and referrals given, and creates tensions which obstruct shared decision-making,’ Dr Lamprell said. Eventual referrals and lengthy wait times for non-urgent colonoscopies were also a common theme of delayed diagnosis and a cause of patient have an increased risk of developing bowel cancer when they experience one or more symptoms of abdominal pain, rectal bleeding, diarrhea, and iron defciency anaemia between 3 months and 2 years prior to diagnosis. be 60% longer with a greater number of missed diagnostic opportunities, and younger people are more likely to be diagnosed in later stages of the disease.

Late-stage diagnosis increases the likelihood of aggressive treatment with physical, psychosocial, and quality of life outcomes that are uniquely challenging for this under-50 patient population, especially with regards to fertility and ostomy management.

‘Patients perceive their dissatisfaction with GPs.

‘Young people seeking diagnosis are also challenged by limited clinical awareness of early-onset bowel cancer.’

‘Our research concludes that with the rising global incidence of bowel cancer in people aged under 50, there is a mounting imperative for GPs to receive more information and clinical guidance on early-onset bowel cancer diagnosis,’ Dr Lamprell concluded.

Patients under 50 years

Bowel Cancer Australia CEO Julien Wiggins said, ‘Younger people need to be aware of, and act on, these potential signs and symptoms and have them investigated so as to rule out bowel cancer as an underlying cause.’

‘1-in-10 new bowel cancer cases now occur in people under age 50,’ he added.

‘Over the past three decades, there has been a 266% increase in bowel cancer incidence rates in adolescents and young adults (15-24 years),’ he said.

People born in 1990 onwards have double the risk of colon cancer and quadruple the risk of rectal cancer compared with people born in 1950.