Colorblind People More Likely to Miss Warning Signs

People who are colorblind may have difficulty determining if they have blood in their urine, stool and other bodily fluids, therefore increasing their risk for missing warning signs of diseases such as colon cancer, according to researchers from New York Medical College in Valhalla.

"Bleeding may be the first sign of an otherwise asymptomatic but serious health condition," said Mathew J. Reiss, co-author of the study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Researchers found that colorblind people with red-green colorblindness were far more likely to miss identifying blood in photographs of stool, urine and mucus. Identifying blood in the stool was a particular problem.

Researchers recommend that physicians routinely ask their patients whether they are colorblind, and if so, they should be told that this may impair their ability to recognize blood.

Almost 98 percent of people who are colorblind have trouble distinguishing green from red. It affects about 8 percent of men and nearly 1 percent of women, according to the report. The study does not apply to individuals with blue-yellow colorblindness.

Other sources: Reuters