Colon cancer, Dutch have little knowledge

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Adenocarcinoma 7 in 10 Dutch say they have insufficient knowledge, according to research from the Digestive Diseases Foundation among 1,000 respondents. An alarming rate, because the earlier cancer is detected, the better to deal with it.

The extent to which people are aware of cancer does not have 12.5% ​​of this, 55% has little knowledge of the disease. A disturbingly high percentage for each year over 15,000 Dutch are diagnosed with colon cancer. When cancer is detected early, it is one of the most treatable forms of cancer. It is therefore important than people are aware of alarms and risk factors.

 25% KNOW TO APPOINT NO ALARM colon cancer

One of the major alarm signals that may indicate the presence of colon cancer is blood in the stool. Some 50% of respondents able to identify this spontaneously. Alarms and discomfort in the abdomen (40%) and changes in bowel habits (28%) are less appointed. A quarter of respondents spontaneously knows not to appoint alarms.

It is important that people are educated about the risk factors and alarm signals, because when people see a list of alarms, manages to appoint almost 90% of blood in the stool symptom of colon cancer. Also a changing bowel habits (detected by 78.1%), persistent discomfort in the abdomen (detected by 63.1%), and unexplained weight loss (recognized by 59%) are common alarm signals that could indicate colon cancer.

The fact that the presence of blood in the stool is most often named as the alarm is partly due to the nationwide screening cancer of the RIVM. In 2014, this biennial survey was among people between 55 and 75 years old for the first run. At 2,500 people, then detected using a stool test cancer. The screening will detect cancer at an early stage, even when there are no observable symptoms. It is important that people are educated about the risk factors and alarms.

RISK cancer FAIR UNKNOWN

Knowledge of risk factors around cancer are relatively unknown in the Dutch population. Half of the respondents do not identify risk factors. A risk factor is heredity, is spontaneously mentioned by only 6% of respondents. On can provide the basis of a list of risk factors 53% know that heredity and eating red or processed meat to increased risk.

LIFESTYLE FACTORS IMPACT UNDERESTIMATE

According to research from 2014, 56 percent of
cancer cases due to lifestyle factors such as smoking, obesity and alcohol consumption. Dutch estimate this percentage lower. Three-quarters think that these factors weigh less than half.