Fear behind low bowel screening figures as one-in-four say cancer diagnosis is ‘death sentence’

Fear and fatalistic beliefs about cancer are leading to fewer people taking up Ireland’s bowel cancer screening programme, research commissioned by the Irish Cancer Society reveals.

A survey of around 2,000 people eligible for BowelScreen found that almost one in four (24.3%) believe that cancer is a death sentence. This false belief is more common in non-users of the home based bowel-screening test than users, indicating that it’s a reason why many decline to take part in this potentially life-saving service.