BACKGROUND: The French national screening programme for colorectal cancer (CRC) was rolled out nationwide from 2008. It targets men and women aged 50-74 who are invited every 2 years to perform a guaiac faecal occult blood test, followed, if positive, by a colonoscopy. This paper presents the evaluation of the programme for the 46 French districts that conducted a comprehensive screening campaign during 2008-2009, targeting 9.7 million people. METHODS: National database gathering information on people who were screened was used to estimate indicators reflecting the programme performance. RESULTS: Participation was 34.3%, with nearly three million people being tested. The percentage of positive tests was 2.8%. Completion of colonoscopies following a positive test was 88%. For men, 36.8% of the results of colonic explorations were normal, 40.1% were adenomas, and 9.0% were CRC, based on the most pejorative lesion. For women, corresponding figures were 55.9%, 25.7% and 5.8%. A CRC was detected for 7.5% of people who had a colonic exploration. The advanced adenoma detection rate among those screened was 4.9‰ and the CRC detection rate was 1.9‰. The description of CRC could only be made for 21 districts, for which 1441 invasive colonic adenocarcinomas were diagnosed; of these, 43% were stage I, 23% stage II, 25% stage III and 9% stage IV. CONCLUSION: This first evaluation since the programme was rolled out provides an inventory of CRC screening in France and points out some improvements expected, especially in terms of participation which is below the European recommendations. Future evaluations will analyse trends in these indicators.
BACKGROUND: The French national screening programme for colorectal cancer (CRC) was rolled out nationwide from 2008. It targets men and women aged 50-74 who are invited every 2 years to perform a guaiac faecal occult blood test, followed, if positive, by a colonoscopy. This paper presents the evaluation of the programme for the 46 French districts that conducted a comprehensive screening campaign during 2008-2009, targeting 9.7 million people. METHODS: National database gathering information on people who were screened was used to estimate indicators reflecting the programme performance. RESULTS: Participation was 34.3%, with nearly three million people being tested. The percentage of positive tests was 2.8%. Completion of colonoscopies following a positive test was 88%. For men, 36.8% of the results of colonic explorations were normal, 40.1% were adenomas, and 9.0% were CRC, based on the most pejorative lesion. For women, corresponding figures were 55.9%, 25.7% and 5.8%. A CRC was detected for 7.5% of people who had a colonic exploration. The advanced adenoma detection rate among those screened was 4.9‰ and the CRC detection rate was 1.9‰. The description of CRC could only be made for 21 districts, for which 1441 invasive colonic adenocarcinomas were diagnosed; of these, 43% were stage I, 23% stage II, 25% stage III and 9% stage IV. CONCLUSION: This first evaluation since the programme was rolled out provides an inventory of CRC screening in France and points out some improvements expected, especially in terms of participation which is below the European recommendations. Future evaluations will analyse trends in these indicators.
Authors: Elisabeth F P Peterse; Caroline B Osoro; Marc Bardou; Iris Lansdorp-Vogelaar Journal: Aliment Pharmacol Ther Date: 2021-03-08 Impact factor: 8.171
Authors: Manon van der Vlugt; Esmée J Grobbee; Patrick Mm Bossuyt; Evelien Bongers; Wolfert Spijker; Ernst J Kuipers; Iris Lansdorp-Vogelaar; Marie-Louise Essink-Bot; Manon C W Spaander; Evelien Dekker Journal: Br J Cancer Date: 2016-12-06 Impact factor: 7.640