More women than men diagnosed with bowel cancer as an emergency

More than a third (34%) of women with bowel cancer in England were diagnosed after an emergency hospital visit compared to less than a third of men (30%), despite women having more red flag symptoms and more visits to their GP, according to UCL research. The research was presented at the 2017 National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer Conference in Liverpool. If diagnosed after an emergency hospital visit, patients are more likely to have poorer survival as the disease is usually at an advanced stage. Data from 2799 women and 2946 men diagnosed with bowel cancer in England between 2005-2010, was analysed by researchers from University College London, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Exeter and funded by Cancer Research UK and the British Medical Association. One in five (20%) women diagnosed as an emergency had alarm symptoms such as a change in bowel habits or rectal bleeding the year before the emergency diagnosis compared to fewer than one in six (14.5%) men. The most common alarm symptom was anaemia for both men and women, but was more common in women. Women were also more likely than men to be diagnosed with a less-serious condition, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), before being diagnosed with cancer. Those who had received a less-serious diagnosis in the year before their emergency admission, were more likely to be diagnosed with cancer following a later emergency hospital visit.