10.6.2021. Blue Star Day celebrated

Author: Davor Kust, MD PhD

Just like last year, the onkologija.net team participated in the Dress in Blue Day celebration, which was also organized by the PINK life patients' association. It is an event that aims to raise awareness of the importance of prevention and early detection of colon cancer. Considering the current epidemiological situation, this year the main event was held online, with a lecture via the Facebook live platform.

Namely, according to the latest data from 2018, more than 3,500 people fall ill from this disease in Croatia every year, and more than 2,000 of them die. It is a worrying fact that the number of patients and deaths continues to increase every year. One of the more important reasons for this is the low response to preventive examinations, primarily to the fecal occult bleeding test as part of the National Colon Cancer Early Detection Program. It is a test that can detect the disease in a large number of patients at an early stage and thus enable healing, and the test itself is very simple and can be performed at home. Unfortunately, only about 20% of people invited to take the test actually take the test. According to the above, Croatia is at the very bottom of Europe, and therefore it is not surprising that in many developed countries we can see a continued increase in the number of colon cancer patients, but despite this a significant decrease in mortality, while in Croatia this is still not the case.

For this reason, health-educational events such as Blue Star Day serve to remind the public once again of the importance of prevention and early detection of this disease, and so that people do not neglect the most important thing they have - their own health. Watch the lecture and the statement for Radio Ludbreg by Dr. Kust at the links below (available via our YouTube channel).