Study finds 'yuck' snag for bowel cancer check

File photo / Martin Sykes

The "yuck factor" of having to collect your own test samples at home may put some people off joining a bowel cancer screening programme that is expected to save lives, research indicates.

The Waitemata District Health Board will invite all 130,000 of its residents aged 50 to 74 to participate in a four-year screening programme from October.

The $24 million pilot will help the Government decide whether to introduce a national programme.

Details of the screening method were being worked out, Waitemata's hospitals funding manager, Dr Debbie Holdsworth, said yesterday.

It would involve people taking tiny samples of their own faeces at home and putting it in a container to send by post or courier to the Auckland District Health Board laboratory.

The lab will check for microscopic amounts of blood, potentially a marker of cancer or pre-cancer, and refer positive cases for a diagnostic test.

In Australia's screening programme, the home screening kit involves placing a sheet of collection paper on the water surface in a toilet bowl.

A sampling stick is wiped along the faeces then clicked into a plastic tube, which is then placed inside a second tube. This is sealed into a plastic bag, which is put in a special postage envelope.

The sample is recommended to be stored - in the envelope - in a fridge or another cool place until a second sample is taken within several days and the two can be posted together.

Dr Holdsworth said it had not been decided whether the Waitemata programme would use a one- or two-sample screening test, so questions on any need for storage had not been addressed.

An Otago University study involving interviews with 50 European New Zealanders found the attitudes of some to faecal specimens could be barriers to joining a screening programme, but others considered the screening test similar to other health tests and "a small price to pay for life".

Some participants said that because people were taught from childhood not to touch their faeces, the "yuck factor" of having to collect one's own samples could influence uptake of the screening invitation.

"Nevertheless," study author Dr Anthony Reeder writes in the NZ Medical Journal, "barriers could be surmounted and resistance reduced by ensuring [the screening test] was promoted as easy, clean and quick.

"These results indicate that a well-trialled, high-profile public education campaign prior to programme implementation is seen as critical for achieving acceptable screening participation, particularly among men."

Dr Holdsworth said NZ Post knew of the screening programme.

"We've met all the health and safety requirements and we're confident there's no health and safety risk."