BACKGROUND: This paper sought to determine the status of older Australians with regard to Bowel Cancer screening practices occurring outside of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program. METHOD: A random sample of N=25,511 urban Australians aged 50 to 74 years received a questionnaire via mail asking questions relating to bowel screening. N=8,762 (34.3%) returned a completed questionnaire. RESULTS: Approximately 33% (N=2863) of respondents indicated they had undergone colonoscopy in the preceding five years and 21% (N=1840) had used a Faecal Occult Blood Test (FOBT) in the preceding 12 months. Furthermore, 27% (N=497) of those who had completed an FOBT had also undergone colonoscopy. CONCLUSION: A significant proportion of older Australians might be participating in bowel screening practices outside of the national program (NBCSP). Moreover, the proportion of individuals reporting use of both FOBT and endoscopic services is much higher than the positivity rate of FOBT. Large population FOBT screening programs, such as the NBCSP, that do not consider participation in screening external to the program may underestimate true population screening rates.
BACKGROUND: This paper sought to determine the status of older Australians with regard to Bowel Cancer screening practices occurring outside of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program. METHOD: A random sample of N=25,511 urban Australians aged 50 to 74 years received a questionnaire via mail asking questions relating to bowel screening. N=8,762 (34.3%) returned a completed questionnaire. RESULTS: Approximately 33% (N=2863) of respondents indicated they had undergone colonoscopy in the preceding five years and 21% (N=1840) had used a Faecal Occult Blood Test (FOBT) in the preceding 12 months. Furthermore, 27% (N=497) of those who had completed an FOBT had also undergone colonoscopy. CONCLUSION: A significant proportion of older Australians might be participating in bowel screening practices outside of the national program (NBCSP). Moreover, the proportion of individuals reporting use of both FOBT and endoscopic services is much higher than the positivity rate of FOBT. Large population FOBT screening programs, such as the NBCSP, that do not consider participation in screening external to the program may underestimate true population screening rates.
Entities:
Keywords:
Colorectal Cancer Screening; Faecal Occult Blood Test; National Bowel Cancer Screening Program; Screening Participation
Authors: Stephen R Cole; Ian Zajac; Tess Gregory; Sarah Mehaffey; Naomi Roosa; Deborah Turnbull; Adrian Esterman; Graeme P Young Journal: Int J Behav Med Date: 2011-12
Authors: Carlene J Wilson; Ingrid H K Flight; Ian T Zajac; Deborah Turnbull; Graeme P Young; Stephen R Cole; Tess Gregory Journal: BMC Med Inform Decis Mak Date: 2010-09-16 Impact factor: 2.796
Authors: Carlene J Wilson; Ingrid Hk Flight; Deborah Turnbull; Tess Gregory; Stephen R Cole; Graeme P Young; Ian T Zajac Journal: BMC Med Inform Decis Mak Date: 2015-04-09 Impact factor: 2.796
Authors: Amy Duncan; Deborah Turnbull; Carlene Wilson; Joanne M Osborne; Stephen R Cole; Ingrid Flight; Graeme P Young Journal: BMC Public Health Date: 2014-03-07 Impact factor: 3.295
Authors: Joanne M Osborne; Ingrid Flight; Carlene J Wilson; Gang Chen; Julie Ratcliffe; Graeme P Young Journal: Patient Prefer Adherence Date: 2018-09-18 Impact factor: 2.711
Authors: Jill Tinmouth; Nancy N Baxter; Lawrence F Paszat; Linda Rabeneck; Rinku Sutradhar; Lingsong Yun Journal: BMJ Open Date: 2014-03-12 Impact factor: 2.692