Study reveals major rise in UK male bowel cancer rates

UK scientists have published a study highlighting a significant increase in bowel cancer cases among men in the last 35 years.

According to the findings from Cancer Research UK and the Bobby Moore Fund, the number of males affected by the condition has risen from 45 cases per 100,000 in 1975-77 to 58 per 100,000 in 2008-10.

This represents an increase of 29 percent, compared to only a six percent rise among women, with the reasons for this discrepancy currently remaining unknown.

Professor Matthew Seymour, professor of gastrointestinal cancer medicine at the University of Leeds and director of the National Cancer Research Network, said: "When we look at these figures and take people's age into account, we still see that the risk of bowel cancer has gone up in men in the last 35 years."

Bowel cancer is the UK's fourth most common cancer, a ranking that rises to third when considering men alone.

The latest study also showed that bowel cancer survival rates are improving, with half of all patients now living for at least ten years following a diagnosis.