According to the report of the National Center for Disease Control at the Ministry of Health, in 2021, 2,759 people were diagnosed in Israel with invasive cancer of the colon and rectum, of which 53% were men and 47% were women, data relatively similar to the year before. The ministry’s data shows that in a decade and a half In recent years, there has been a significant annual decrease of 2 to 3 percent in the morbidity rates of this cancer in Israel.
The reason for the slight decrease may be the early examination for the detection of occult blood in the feces, which is performed once a year at the health insurance funds, but the response rate to this examination is very low, and does not exceed 50%. The Ministry of Health does not include the colonoscopy examination as part of the review of the population, but it can be performed through a recommendation from a gastroenterologist. But even here, the rate of performing the test, which is used in many western countries over the age of 50, is very low in Israel.
In an international comparison, among 185 countries that report to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the incidence rate of colorectal cancer in Israel is 24.8 per 100,000 people, a figure higher than the world average of 18.4 per 100,000 people. The death rate in Israel from colon and rectal cancer (8.8 per 100,000 people) is relatively similar to the world average (8.1 per 100,000 people).
Prof. Little Keenan Booker, director of the National Center for Disease Control at the Ministry of Health, said: “Colorectal cancer is the fourth most common malignant disease in Israel. We recommend that people aged 50-74 perform a fecal occult blood test once a year, and if the test is positive, it is very important to also perform a fecal occult blood test.” Colonoscopy. For people who are at high risk, it is recommended to have a colonoscopy as often as determined by the type of risk, after consultation with the attending physician.”
However, a study of the data reveals that they are updated for 2021, 4 years ago. Many of the data distributed by the Ministry of Health are very old, and rely on findings that are correct for three, four and five years earlier. A senior official at the Ministry of Health explained that unlike the American Center for Disease Control, which is equipped with a large number of personnel and technological means that help to receive data quickly, in Israel the infrastructure is still old, and the data collection process is long, complex, comes from the health funds and the hospitals and requires validation, and therefore Israel’s data are not updated and are based on The state of health three, four and five years ago.