Canberra, Nov 3 (IANS): The incidence of bowel cancer is dramatically lower after screening, the Australian National University (ANU) quoted a new report as saying Monday.

Research involving 200,000 people found that people who had had bowel cancer screening had a 44 percent lower risk of developing the disease in the four years following screening.

"This is great news for the community -- those who take part in screening and don't have colorectal cancer have a substantially lower risk of developing the disease over the subsequent years," Xinhua quoted co-author Emily Banks from the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at ANU as saying.

"We have the potential to save hundreds of lives every year," she said.

Bowel cancer kills 80 Australians every week and the country has one of the highest rates of the disease in the world.

The government of Australia has announced plans to accelerate the public screening programme, to offer free screening every two years to Australians between the ages of 50 and 74 by 2020.

"Bowel cancer is Australia's second most common cause of cancer death, yet it is one of the easiest cancers to treat if detected early," said Frederick Sitas from the Cancer Council New South Wales, who collaborated on the research, along with the University of South Australia.

"It's vital to understand the symptoms of the disease, get checked regularly and know your family's medical history," Sitas said.

When they become eligible for screening, people are sent an invitation letter, followed by a screening pack. They collect their own sample and send it to a pathology lab, Sitas introduced.

Part of the success of the screening process is that, as well as detecting disease early, it picks up pre-cancerous conditions such as polyps, which can be cleared up before they become serious, Banks said.

"If you get invited for screening, do it," she said.

The research, which is based on data from the Sax Institute's 45 and Up study, is published in the Medical Journal of Australia.