A new study published in the journal Cancer has found that women can be screened for colorectal cancer five to 10 years later than men when they undergo an initial virtual colonoscopy.
In the study, Cesare Hassan of the Nuovo Regina Margherita Hospital in Rome, Italy, and his colleagues studied 7,620 patients who were referred for a first-time screening using a virtual colonoscopy between 2004 and 2011, the Huffington Post reported. The researchers found that 51 women under the age of 55 of age would have to be screened with virtual colonoscopy to find one case of advanced neoplasia.
This, compared with the fact that only 10 men over the age of 65 would have to be screened to find one case of advanced neoplasia, Hassan said, means that "if you are a man the best age to have a virtual colonoscopy is between 55 and 60 years, but if you are a woman, you can at least wait until 60 years." Article