The requirements for free colon cancer screenings would be relaxed from this year to include people aged 45 to 49, as well as those aged 40 to 44 with a family history of the disease, the Health Promotion Administration said yesterday.
Given that the incidence of colon cancer among younger Taiwanese has spiked to higher than its counterparts in the UK, the US, Japan and South Korea, free screenings would be expanded to cover people aged 45 to 49, in addition to those aged 50 to 74, starting from this year, Cancer Prevention and Control Division Director Lin Li-ju (林莉茹) said.
Photo courtesy of the Health Promotion Administration
People aged 40 to 44 who have parents, children or siblings diagnosed with colon cancer would also be included, she said.
They could have a fecal occult blood test once every two years, Lin said, adding that periodic screening could reduce the incidence of advanced colon cancer by 29 percent and the mortality rate by 35 percent.
Of people who test positive, one in two has colon polyps and one in 20 has colon cancer, she said, adding that those who do not have a colonoscopy for further screening would have an additional mortality risk of 64 percent.
To prevent the disease, people should increase their intake of water, fruit and vegetables, and reduce oils, salts, red meat and sauce in their diet, while removing meat skin, fat and charred food, Lin said, adding that exercise is also important.
In Taiwan, colon cancer is the second-most common type of cancer, with 17,643 additional patients in 2022, equivalent to a person catching the disease every 29 minutes and 47 seconds, and a death every 77 minutes and 24 seconds, she said.
The median onset age was 67, while the median death age was 73, Lin said. The goal is to decrease cancer mortality rates by one-third by 2030, in line with the “Healthy Taiwan” policy, she said.
Data show that the colon cancer incidence rate for people aged 50 to 59 declined between 2010 and 2018, National Taiwan University Hospital clinical professor of internal medicine and colorectal cancer screening project leader Chiu Han-mo (邱瀚模) said.
However, the incidence rate for people aged 40 to 44 rose from 21 to 29.8 people per 100,000, while the rate for those aged 45 to 49 increased from 40.4 to 49.8 per 100,000 people, he said.
Data from 2020 showed the colon cancer incidence rate in Taiwan for men was 43.12 per 100,000 and 29.31 per 100,000 for women. The rates for both genders were higher than those of the US, the UK, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Singapore, Chiu said.
Although the incidence of early onset colon cancer is rising globally, Taiwan is among the worst and should review the disease’s risk factors and implement screenings, he said.
People aged 50 or younger with colon cancer increased from 1,871 people in 2012 to 2,049 people in 2022, with 24.1 percent of them diagnosed as phase I colon cancer and 22.7 percent as phase IV, Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons deputy secretary-general Chang Chu-cheng (張巨成) said.
Most people diagnosed as phase I are more aware of their physical conditions and would go to see a doctor when feeling unwell, while those diagnosed as phase IV are usually not, he said.
The five-year survival rates for people aged 50 or younger with colon cancer at phase I, II, III and IV are 97.2 percent, 96.9 percent, 77.5 percent and 22.6 percent respectively, all higher than those of people aged 65 or older at 84.8 percent, 76.8 percent, 68.3 percent and 13.9 percent respectively, Chang said.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,