Bowel cancer screening tests can slash the risk of dying from the disease by 43 per cent, a study suggests.The DIY tool is currently offered to some 17 million Britons aged 50 to 74 every two years.It looks for small, hidden traces of blood in a person's stool – an early sign of bowel cancer. The latest findings suggest the test is even more effective than previously thought, with a 2024 trial stating a 25 per cent reduced risk of death. Figures suggest that the programme is completed by just 70 per cent of eligible people in England.The screening programme – which sees a testing kit sent via the post – began in 2006, but was extended in 2021 to include Britons in their 50s.The decision was fuelled by a worrying rise in the disease among young adults.Bowel cancer cases in under-50-year-olds are 50 per cent higher than they were 30 years ago, studies show. Taking a simple at-home bowel cancer screening test could slash the risk of dying from the disease, a study suggestsIn the new study, scientists from the Karolinska Institute analysed data from 376,511 people in Sweden, 203,692 of whom were invited for bowel cancer screening, and 172,819 who were invited later or not at all. Participants were around 63 years old, on average. At the start of the study, the Swedish screening programme used a method called the guaiac-based faecal occult blood test (gFOBT).This was also used in the UK prior to 2017, before being later replaced by a more accurate technology, called FIT. It was also replaced in Sweden, which the research reflected.At the end of the study, researchers found those who took the tests had a 43 per cent lower risk, compared to those who did not take them.Researchers said screening can find bowel cancer earlier, when it is more likely to be successfully treated. When caught at the earliest stage, bowel cancer patients have a more than 90 per cent chance of surviving for five years.This plummets to just six per cent if caught at later stages, when it has spread to other organs.