Prince Edward Island is lowering its colorectal cancer screening age to 45 after several national health groups said the disease is increasingly impacting younger people.
The province’s premier Rob Lantz announced it is the first in Canada to lower the age of the routine test and it will take effect immediately.
“Waiting until 50 is no longer an option,” Latz said at a news conference Monday.
P.E.I. Minister of Health and Wellness Cory Deagle says about 140 new colorectal cancer cases and 39 deaths take place in the province every year.
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“For every 100 additional colonoscopies, we expect to prevent nearly three cancer cases,” Deagle said, adding that the province has health care capacity for this expansion.
Colorectal Cancer Canada and the Canadian Cancer Society recently called on all provinces to make the move as a growing number of people are diagnosed with colorectal cancer before the current routine screening age of 50.
It said people under 50 are two-to-two-and-a-half times more likely to be diagnosed with colorectal cancer than they were in previous generations.
Colorectal Cancer Canada President and CEO Barry D. Stein applauded P.E.I.’s “major step forward,” but said there are still far too many people in this country “being diagnosed too late and too often.”
He encouraged other provinces to follow suit.
In routine screening, people between 50 and 74 years of age get a fecal immunochemical test — or FIT — to swab their stool at home and then either send or drop off the swab to a lab.
If the patient has an abnormal result, they will be contacted to book a follow-up, which may involve a colonoscopy or treatment.
-With files from Nicole Ireland
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