Funny when I was not geriatric I used to know the difference between biannual and biennial but not something which I am heartbroken about as I have made much more significant mistakes in my life such as bothering to draft this reply.
Once again however the whole point of my post was the current cost to the system of screening programs by current methods being prohibitive and so it is all about cost benefit. This cost benefit is applied based on statistical risk which is great for statistical population purposes but not for the individual but it serves the point for some to attack and belittle. In seems obvious that in the world even if the system of screening all of the population was completely free some would not test those under this age group or over 74 years of age out of bitterness or lack of conscious as it is all too much trouble to be bothered with and anyway some might die of other causes before the horror of a death by bowel cancer catches up with them. Having witnessed first hand someone young and fit die from bowel cancer I hope for the sake of those over 74 years who do develop bowel cancer that they have other issues that will take them early.
Perhaps they are just as bitter and unhappy as that would imply and do not have an ulterior motive for their attacks on the idea of regular universal screening for disease such as cancer. But for the benefit of others the following are the reasons advanced to the Council for the Ageing by those who determined not to test those over 74 years of age routinely.
It is noted that it does not deal with the risk to those under 50 years of age from bowel cancer but I am sure many here have friends or relatives under 50 who have had that diagnosis too late and I have not doubt that it was once again based on a cost benefit analysis that they were not included in routine screening.
The revolutionary nature of the NaNose Brainchip technology is that it will be so inexpensive as to make these types of economic rationalist decisions about who gets to survive and who does not irrelevant.
"The National Bowel Cancer Screening Program invites eligible people aged 50 to 74 years to complete a free screening test.
The recommended strategy is to have a special blood test every 2 years from age 50 to 74.
The Health Department justifies the limited age range “… after consideration of the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and the overall balance of benefits to risk of harm associated with screening”.
The Department goes on to say that people over 74 “ … are at greater risks from the follow-up procedures used for bowel cancer screening and are encouraged to speak with their doctor about screening options based on their individual circumstances.”
The upper age of 74 years is based on current evidence on the harms and benefits of population screening and is in keeping with the recommendations of the National Health and Medical Research Council approved Clinical Guidelines for the Prevention, Early Detection and Management of Colorectal Cancer.
According to the Clinical Guidelines:
- Screening once every two years between 50 and 74 years was predicted to reduce colorectal cancer incidence by 52% and reduce colorectal cancer mortality by 74%, compared to no screening.
- Extending the age of ceasing screening to 79 or 84 years would result an additional reduction of 1–2 percentage points in colorectal cancer incidence and 2–5 percentage points in colorectal cancer mortality.
- Extending the age range to 79 or 84 years is not recommended for population screening asit is unlikely to be cost-effective. If you are over the aged of 74 and concerned about bowel cancer you should talk with your doctor about screening options.
If you are over the age of 74 and concerned about bowel cancer, you should talk with your doctor about screening options."
Once again this is my opinion only so DYOR
FF
AKIDA Ballista
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