If a drop of blood is seen in stool, people tend to panic. The causative factors could include digestive, respiratory, circulatory, hematological or even neuropsychological diseases.

A fecal occult blood test detects unseen blood in feces that leads to the screening of colon cancer. But a positive test could also leads to other serious issues.

Dr. Robert Steele, the lead author and Professor of Surgery from the University of Dundee Ninewells Hospital and Medical School said, "People with traces of blood in their bowel as picked up by the bowel screening test are at a 58 percent higher risk of premature death from a variety of causes—not just bowel cancer."

Steele claimed that inflammation might even lead to bleeding in the bowel, Alzheimer’s disease and other types of cancers. Dr. Marc Siegel, a clinical professor of medicine from NYU Langone Medical Center in New York said, "Inflammation is related to excess weight, insulin resistance, lack of exercise and poor diet."

A healthier lifestyle or proper treatment for the associated medical conditions would result in positive health benefits even if the bowel screening test is positive. But one should keep in mind that the chance of death for people with blood in their stool is nearly 8 times comparatively.

Dr. Uri Ladabaum, the professor of medicine from Stanford University School of Medicine in California, said "Testing for hidden blood in the stool can find early colorectal cancer or pre-cancer, leading to decreased risk of colorectal cancer death; I don't think that colorectal cancer screening programs should be tasked with dealing with all the possible non-colorectal cancer risks that might be signaled by hidden blood in the stool.”