And providing specific reminders to general practitioners improves participation in FIT screening
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 6, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Mailed outreach invitations offering a fecal immunochemical test (FIT) or colonoscopy increase the proportion of participants completing colorectal cancer (CRC) screening, and providing specific reminders to general practitioners (GPs) improves participation in FIT screening, according to two studies published online Sept. 5 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Amit G. Singal, M.D., from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and colleagues conducted a randomized clinical trial involving 5,999 participants aged 50 to 64 years who were not up to date with CRC screenings. Participants were randomly assigned to mailed FIT outreach (2,400 participants), mailed colonoscopy outreach (2,400 participants), or usual care with clinic-based screening (1,199 participants). The researchers found that screening process completion was 38.4, 28, and 10.7 percent in the colonoscopy outreach group, FIT outreach group, and usual care group, respectively.
Cédric Rat, M.D., Ph.D., from the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, and colleagues randomized GPs to receive a list of patients (aged 50 to 74 years) who had not undergone CRC screening (496 GPs with 10,476 patients), to receive a letter describing region-specific CRC screening adherence rates (495 GPs with 10,606 patients), or not to receive any reminders (455 GPs with 10,147 patients). Follow-up at one year was available for 31,229 patients of 1,446 GPs. The researchers found that participation in FIT screening occurred among 24.8, 21.7, and 20.6 percent of patients in the specific reminders group, generic reminders group, and usual care group.
“Screening rates for CRC in the United States are inadequate,” write the authors of an accompanying editorial. “Creative approaches are necessary to improve them.”
Polymedco provided FIT kits and reagents in the Singal study.
Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required) — Singal
Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required) — Rat
Editorial (subscription or payment may be required)
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