Male bowel cancer rates have increased, says report

Male bowel cancer rates have increased by around one quarter, Cancer Research has claimed

15:39 02 April 2013

Bowel cancer rates in men have gone up by at least a quarter, new findings have suggested. A report by Cancer Research claims that the rates have increased by this much in the last three and a half decades.

 

Some of the reasons thought to be behind the rise may relate to people’s diets; as too little fibre, as well as too high a quantity of red meat, are understood to be factors associated with bowel cancer. However, obesity as well as smoking and heavy alcohol consumption are also thought to be linked with the disease.

 

The group also found that a number of people affected by bowel cancer were between the age of 60 and 80. It is worth noting that people are living longer these days, which may be why a certain number of the cases in the report concerned people above state retirement age.

 

The findings revealed however, that the increase in rates for females was a lot less – being only 6per cent - compared to males.

 

“We know the risk of bowel cancer increases as we get older and, since we’re all living longer, it’s no surprise to see that the number of people getting the disease is rising,” said Professor Matthew Seymour of the National Cancer Research Network.

 

“But when we look at these figures and take people’s age into account, we still see that the risk of bowel cancer has gone up in men in the last 35 years. It’s important to find out what’s behind the rise and what we can do about it.”

 

Professor Seymour also noted that: “The good news is that, thanks to research, we have seen huge improvements in bowel cancer survival over the last 40 years.”

 

As well as lung cancer, bowel cancer is a disease that kills many people in the UK. Ways to help reduce the risk of bowel cancer could include;

 

• living a healthy and active lifestyle

• not smoking

• not drinking heavily

 

It is understood there has been large improvements in bowel cancer survival since the 1970s however.