Taipei, July 28 (CNA) Regular cancer screenings can extend life expectancy by years and reduce the likelihood of cancer-related death, officials and experts said Monday at a press conference attended by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Taiwan Association of Medical Screening (TAMS).
At the event, TAMS Director Chuang Shao-yuan (莊紹源) said that women who undergo mammography screenings live an average of 3.38 years longer than those who do not.
He also said that fecal occult blood tests for colorectal cancer increase life expectancy by an average of 3.10 years, pap smears by 2.33 years and oral mucosal screenings by 0.59 years for at-risk groups.
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Echoing Chuang, TAMS Chairman Hsu Chen-yang (許辰陽) pointed out that women who undergo screenings for all three cancers -- breast, cervical and colorectal -- can live eight to nine years longer on average than those who receive no screenings.
A press release issued the same day by the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) under the health ministry also said that regular screenings lower cancer mortality, reducing breast cancer deaths by 41 percent, colorectal cancer by 40 percent, and cervical cancer by around 70 percent.
Also speaking at the event, HPA Director-General Wu Chao-chun (吳昭軍) said Taiwan offers free screenings for breast, colorectal, cervical and oral cancers. The HPA continues to expand groups eligible for testing, he added, and called on all eligible individuals to get screened as early as possible.
According to health ministry data, 130,293 new cancer cases were reported in Taiwan in 2022, and 54,032 people died of cancer in 2024.
Lin Li-ju (林莉茹), head of the HPA's Cancer Prevention Division, said Taiwan's standardized cancer mortality rate is falling.
She noted that currently the five-year survival rate exceeds 90 percent for stage 0 cancer but falls to just 30 percent for stage 4.
The HPA press release also noted that Taiwan's health ministry has promoted cancer screenings since 2010.
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