Colorectal cancer screening in LHU4 Chiavarese, Italy: ethical, methodological and outcome evaluations at the end of the first round

Introduction. The screening programmes are very challenging from the ethical perspective, and their impact in terms of morbidity and mortality make secondary colorectal cancer prevention a valuable public health intervention. Methods. The target population people aged 50-69 years receive an invitation card with a test-tube for the fecal occult blood test (FOBT) and an immunochemical test is used for fecal occult blood. Subjects positive to FOBT are invited to perform a gastroenterologic examination and a full colonoscopy. Results. In the firt round of screening, 100% of the target population has been invited with an adhesion rate of 41.3%. A total of 1,739 FOBT-positive subjects have been invited to the second level of the screening. 1,429 of them have performed the gastroenterologic examination (83.9%). To date 956 full colonoscopies have been completed and the rate of subjects affected by carcinoma, malignant polyp and advanced adenoma has been equal to 23.5%. Discussion. Thanks to the reminders already sent, an increasing compliance has been registered with an increased rate of subjects with a low schooling that have performed a FOBT test. With the aim to optimize all the operative aspects of the screening programme it is already ongoing a set of meetings between health workers of Local Health Unit 4 and General Practioners.
Journal of Preventive Medicine and Hygiene, Vol 53, No 1 (2012)