This article, in the world as it exists right now, is wrong about colon cancer. Anyone reading this of a certain age: get that colonoscopy, and those polyps removed. Snip it in the bud. That's the great thing about a colonoscopies - all-in-one screening + treatment.
Evidence: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1301969
Large prospective cohorts (Nurses’ Health Study + Health Professionals Follow-Up Study) with long follow-up - screening colonoscopy was associated with a 68% lower risk of death from colorectal cancer overall (multivariable HR ≈ 0.32, 95% CI 0.24–0.45) and showed significant reduction for proximal colon mortality as well (HR ≈ 0.47, 95% CI 0.29–0.76).
> For colon cancer, the rates from the SEER data are are 91%, 74%, and 16%.
This is the only claim the article makes directly about colon cancer. Otherwise, it's saying that early detection being beneficial isn't supported by survival rates alone.
"Otherwise, it's saying that early detection being beneficial isn't supported by survival rates alone."
That claim may be obvious to everybody except me. Anyway it turns out to be true.