Dresden (dpa / sn) – Not even a quarter of men in Saxony used examinations for cancer screening in the doctor’s office in 2021. In a comparison of the federal states, they were at almost 23.5 percent, according to information from the Barmer health insurance company on Tuesday for World Cancer Day (February 4) in Dresden, in the lower midfield between Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with 29 percent and Saarland with 19.7 percent.
Cancer screening in men focuses on prostate, colon and skin cancer. Statutory insured persons over the age of 45 are entitled to a specific anamnesis and palpation of the genital area and the lymph nodes at the doctor’s. From the age of 35, they can go for skin cancer screening every two years. According to the health insurance company, around nine percent of men took advantage of this in 2021. 5.3 percent did an immunological stool test for early detection of colon cancer.
According to Barmer, the decline in early detection is not solely due to the peak phase of the corona pandemic, when people refrained from visiting the doctor for fear of infection. Participation in these studies has been gradually declining since 2010 – at that time 25.9 percent of men were still using them. According to Barmer, cancer is the most common cause of death in Bavaria, after cardiovascular diseases – according to data from the State Statistical Office, 12,630 people died of it in 2021.
