In the USA, colonoscopies are recommended on average every 10 years for the over 50 population.
Now, new research conducted on 110,000 people who had had a first colonoscopy with a negative result and on a control group of 1 million citizens, observed that extending the time to 15 years – between one analysis and another – does not increase health risks. “In practice – explains the report published in ‘JAMA Oncology’ – waiting 5 more years has not shown to increase the probability of a diagnosis of colon or rectal cancer nor the risks of death”.
According to scholars’ calculations, introducing a gap between colonoscopies of 5 more years would lead to not identifying 1 case of colon cancer every 1,000 tests. In an accompanying editorial, it is suggested that the new standards for colonoscopies be established 15 years later for people who have no particular risks. The research was conducted on Swedish citizens by scholars from the Heidelberg Cancer Research Center in Germany.
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