Psychosocial consequences of invitation to colorectal cancer screening: a matched cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Psychosocial consequences of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening can arise anywhere in the screening cascade. Previous studies have investigated the consequences of participating in CRC screening; however, we have not identified any studies investigating the psychosocial consequences of receiving the invitation. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate psychosocial consequences of invitation to CRC screening.
METHODS: The study was a longitudinal study performed in Region Zealand, Denmark. Participants included in this study were a random sample of 1000 CRC screening invitees and 1000 control persons, not invited to screening, matched in a 1:1 design on sex, age and municipality. We assessed psychosocial consequences before and after invitation in both study groups concurrently. The primary outcomes were psychosocial consequences measured with the condition-specific questionnaire Consequences of Screening in ColoRectal Cancer.
RESULTS: Preinvitation response rates were 575 (57.5%) and 610 (61.0%) for the invitation group and control group, respectively. Postinvitation response rates were 442 (44.2%) for the invitation group and 561 (56.1%) for the control group.No differences in mean change in scale score were seen except for the scale 'Change in body perception'. The invitation group had a 0.39 lower change (99% CI (-0.78 to -0.004), p=0.009) in mean score than the control group in the direction of a less negative body perception after invitation.
CONCLUSIONS: This study did not identify an association between invitation to CRC screening and negative psychosocial consequences. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.