Abstract
PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the number of new colorectal neoplasms during the first seven years after the end of rescreening in a prospective randomized screening study. METHODS: 27,700 inhabitants of Göteborg born between 1918 and 1922 (60–64 years old) who were randomly allocated to a control or a test group in 1982 were followed up. All people in the latter group were offered six fecal occult blood tests and rescreening 16 to 22 months later. RESULTS: One hundred one carcinomas were diagnosed in the screened group and 128 in the control group during the seven years of follow-up. The number of carcinomas in the test group was half that in the control group during the first two years of follow-up, but equal during the rest of the follow-up period. The distribution of carcinomas according to Dukes classification was significantly better among the participants compared with the refusers (P<0.02) but there was no difference in the Dukes distribution when the test and control groups as a whole were compared. The number of adenomas in the two groups during seven years of follow-up was the same. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that screening and rescreening of a population has little influence upon the stage of the carcinomas in the test group compared with a control group during the first seven years of follow-up. The number of carcinomas was higher in the control than in the test group during the follow-up, probably because of a lead time effect during the screening.
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This work was supported by the Swedish Cancer Society, Grant 1765-B89-08XC.
Read in part at the meeting of The American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, San Francisco, California, June 7 to 12 1992.
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Kewenter, J., Brevinge, H., Engarås, B. et al. Follow-up after screening for colorectal neoplasms with fecal occult blood testing in a controlled trial. Dis Colon Rectum 37, 115–119 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02047531
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02047531