to be clear, i'm not a doctor or an expert, just a person with gasto problems - maybe to elaborate a little from my original comment: i think everyone over 40 should be screened (with a colonoscopy or other non-procedure testing) for colon cancer, full stop. then, say, every five or ten years depending on the results?
i also believe pre-screening (stool sample testing, mostly) is getting better, which would potentially help categorize who does and does not need an actual colonoscopy in the future
these are all US stats[0], which i'd imagine is a broadly worse-off group than the UK in terms of like, ultraprocessed foods and other risk factors, but this stood out to me:
> Lifetime Risk of Developing Cancer: Approximately 4.0 percent of men and women will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer at some point during their lifetime, based on 2018–2021 data, excluding 2020 due to COVID.
anecdotally, i think with gastro problems there's a lot of individual latitude where serious problems might go undetected, under-reported, or assumed to have a less serious cause - i also think (but do not know) that colon cancer develops slowly, which may mean there's a long potential where it could be caught, detected, or risks flagged early by a colonoscopy, which, to me, outweighs the risks of "serious complications" from the procedure
i also believe pre-screening (stool sample testing, mostly) is getting better, which would potentially help categorize who does and does not need an actual colonoscopy in the future
these are all US stats[0], which i'd imagine is a broadly worse-off group than the UK in terms of like, ultraprocessed foods and other risk factors, but this stood out to me:
> Lifetime Risk of Developing Cancer: Approximately 4.0 percent of men and women will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer at some point during their lifetime, based on 2018–2021 data, excluding 2020 due to COVID.
anecdotally, i think with gastro problems there's a lot of individual latitude where serious problems might go undetected, under-reported, or assumed to have a less serious cause - i also think (but do not know) that colon cancer develops slowly, which may mean there's a long potential where it could be caught, detected, or risks flagged early by a colonoscopy, which, to me, outweighs the risks of "serious complications" from the procedure
[0] https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/colorect.html