'Not just an old person's disease': Bowel cancer screening from 45

It is attacking a growing number of people aged under 50 and he is one of them, diagnosed with stage three bowel cancer almost a year ago when he was aged just 34.

Mr Ward has been part of a push from Bowel Cancer Australia to lower the screening age for bowel cancer from 50 to 45, which the National Health and Medical Research Council recently endorsed with updated clinical practice guidelines.

For the first time, population screening for people at average risk of developing bowel cancer (without any symptoms) is recommended every two years for people aged 45 to 74 along with a lowering of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) start age from 50 to 45.

Mr Ward travelled to Canberra with Bowel Cancer Australia in June, just days after finishing his final round of chemotherapy, to lobby the government to lower the screening age to 45.

He was among 50 people under 50 who had either been diagnosed with bowel cancer or lost a partner aged under 50 to the disease who met with parliamentarians and bureaucrats to push for earlier screening.

"It wouldn't necessarily directly have helped me but it's a really good start for a couple of reasons - to get those screening tests in more people's letterboxes and to give more people the opportunity to get diagnosed early," he said.

"If you look at the statistics for survival, if you're diagnosed at stage one the survival rate is 99 per cent plus compared to 12 to 13 per cent survival if diagnosed at stage four. Early detection is really important with bowel cancer."

According to Bowel Cancer Australia, one in nine new bowel cancer cases (more than 1700 a year) occur in people under the age of 50. Australians aged 40 to 49 account for 56 per cent of new cases and 64 per cent of deaths of those diagnosed under age 50.

Bowel Cancer Australia medical director Associate Professor Graham Newstead said it was still unclear why the rise in early-onset bowel cancer was occurring.

"We still don't know why younger people are getting bowel cancer," he said.

"What we do know, is that people under the age of 50 have an increased risk of developing bowel cancer when they experience one or more symptoms of abdominal pain, rectal bleeding, diarrhoea, and iron deficiency anaemia between three months and two years prior to diagnosis.

"Younger people need to be aware of, and act on, these potential signs and symptoms and have them investigated to rule out bowel cancer as an underlying cause."

Mr Ward said having screening kits arriving in the letterboxes of people aged from 45 would reinforce the notion that bowel cancer is not just an old person's disease.

"It gives more people the opportunity to get checked, especially when there are potentially no symptoms, and it becomes a conversation starter. People at that age will talk more about bowel cancer and how it's not just an old people's disease.

"It makes it more relevant especially when the numbers are increasing pretty drastically among people in their 40s."

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Mr Ward is currently cancer-free, but living under the shadow of "anxiety inducing" three-monthly scans to check whether it has returned.

"I finished treatment in June and I'm coming up to the 12 month anniversary of being diagnosed. I'm quite looking forward to getting through that one year milestone to still be here and well."

Bowel Cancer Australia chief executive Julien Wiggins welcomed the change in guidelines and called on the federal government to approve, fund and implement the lower NBCSP screening start age.

"Youthfulness should not be a barrier to timely diagnosis, so it is equally imperative the updated guidance for people aged 40-44 is implemented by healthcare professionals," he said.

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