The study explored patient experiences of the Call for a Kit (CFAK) intervention, a community-based initiative designed to improve bowel cancer screening uptake and examined the mechanisms that may support participation among non-responders.

A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was employed, combining quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews.

The evaluation was conducted in general practices across Lancashire and South Cumbria, Northwest England, where CFAK clinics were delivered by an external health promotion team based within the Community Voluntary Services. These clinics target practices with low screening uptake.

A total of 113 CFAK attendees aged 54 and above, and who had missed their most recent screening invitation, completed a patient experience survey. 12 participants were purposively sampled for follow-up interviews.

Statistical analyses examined associations between patient experience and screening behaviours, including kit ordering and intention to complete the screening kit. Thematic analysis explored barriers and facilitators to participation, as well as experiences of CFAK clinics.

Patient experience scores were significantly higher among women than men and were positively associated with intention to complete the kit, though not with kit ordering. Qualitative findings indicated that CFAK addressed key barriers such as low awareness, confusion and emotional discomfort by providing personalised education, reassurance and culturally sensitive support. Participants particularly valued the relational aspects of the intervention, including the face-to-face delivery and communication in preferred languages.

CFAK clinics appear to enhance psychological capability and motivation for bowel screening by offering tailored, inclusive and supportive care. These findings highlight the value of patient-centred approaches in addressing inequalities in cancer screening and offer insights for the design of future community-based interventions.

Age acceleration in survivors of breast cancer is a critical issue because cancer and its treatment can increase structural and numerical chromosomal aberrations, while simultaneously shortening telomere length and changing ageing phenotype. Therefore, the current study will be using machine learning architectures to accurately predict the factors that contribute to age acceleration among survivors of breast cancer.

The Cancer Survivors’ Trajectories of Ageing Research (C*STAR) is a hospital-based cross-sectional study involving multi-ethnic Malaysian survivors of breast cancer and a non-breast cancer control group, frequency-matched by age group (±5 years), sex and ethnicity. The three main stages of this study will be conducted in the predictive model development. First, a set of validated questionnaires will be used to collect the data on modifiable factors of ageing phenotypes and behavioural determinants of health. Second, 3 mL non-fasting blood samples will be collected, and lymphocytes will be isolated to determine telomere length using real-time PCR as a biomarker of age acceleration. Lastly, a machine learning architecture will be deployed to identify modifiable factors that may contribute to age acceleration in survivors of breast cancer and controls, with these factors used as input and ageing biomarkers of telomere length as output. The study outcomes may serve as guidance to enhance the quality of life of survivors of breast cancer and hinder the recurrence of cancer while ageing successfully.

Ethical approval was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (JEP-2022-700) to carry out this study. Written informed consent will be obtained from each survivor of breast cancer and each cancer-free woman prior to participation. The results of this study will be published for future research and clinical applications.

To assess the sex-specific status of dietary diversity (DD) and its associated factors among older men and women (aged ≥60 years) in Bangladesh.

A nationally representative cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2018–2019 on food security, nutrition and health of older adults of both sexes.

Data were collected from 82 clusters (rural 57, non-slum urban 15 and slum 10) from all eight administrative divisions of Bangladesh.

A total of 4817 participants aged ≥60 years (2482 men and 2335 women) were enrolled.

A list-based (24-item) recall method was employed, and the items were later aggregated into 10 food groups. The outcome variable was the prevalence of inadequate DD, defined as consumption of less than 5 food groups out of 10.

Men and women had mean DD scores of 4.33±1.6 and 4.13±1.7, respectively. Women had a higher prevalence of inadequate DD than men (61.2% vs 56.3%, p=0.028). Among the food groups, women consumed significantly less fish and eggs than men (fish: 50.96% vs 57.76%, p=0.002; eggs: 17.13% vs 22.10%, p=0.004). Poor education, rural dwellings, living in homes with fewer individuals and living in food-insecure households were associated with inadequate DD in both sexes. Furthermore, among men, older age and not being currently married, and among women, lower age and living in households with middle wealth status were associated with inadequate DD.

The study found that older women consume relatively less diverse diets than men, and several sociodemographic factors influence inadequate DD among older adults of both sexes in Bangladesh. These factors should be considered while developing policies and programmes to promote equitable access to a diversified diet and improve geriatric health and nutritional outcomes.