A new study on colon cancer suggested that screening could help in saving thousands of lives every year. According to the study, increasing colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates to about 80% in next three years could prevent more than 20,000 deaths every year by 2030.

As per the reports, the study is the first to calculate the health benefits of increasing screening rates. The study has been conducted by Ahmedin Jemal, epidemiologist at American Cancer Society, and published in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

The reports stated that the colon cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States. In 2015, more than 132,000 new cases and 49,700 deaths from the colon cancer could be recorded in the US. During the study, the researchers had collected data of last ten years, which showed that both incidence and mortality from the cancer have decreased at a rate about 3% every year. According to the study, it happened due to increased use of screening.

The study also showed that still about 60% United States adults aged 50 to 75 years received guideline-recommended testing in 2013. As per the study, lack of screening is reason behind the substantial percentage of colorectal cancer deaths. Earlier, the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable (NCCR) said that 80% screening rate by 2018 could prevent deaths from the cancer.

Researchers at Erasmus MC University Medical Center in Rotterdam had used a computer model to demonstrate the effects of increasing screening rates. According to them, screening rates to 80% by 2018 could reduce estimated colorectal cancer incidence rates by 17% and mortality rates by 19%.

Richard C. Wender, M.D., chief cancer control officer and chair of the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable, said, “The barriers to increasing colorectal cancer screening in the United States are significant and numerous. But this study shows that investing in efforts to clear these hurdles will result in a major cancer prevention success”.