Colorectal cancer Cancer Colorectal cancer
Conditions
Interventions
Faecal occult blood test:
Two types of test: guaiac versus immunochemical
Two types of provider: General Practitioner versus Hospital gastroenterology centre
Sponsors
Agency for Public Health, Lazio Region, Italy (Agenzia di Sanita Pubblica della Regione Lazio)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: We selected 13 hospitals, out of 20 to participate in the screening programme, in order to represent all types of gastroenterology units (5 university hospitals, 2 large research hospitals, 6 local hospitals) and all geographic areas (7 in the metropolitan area of Rome, 2 in the outskirts of Rome, 4 in towns and small cities of the province). We included in a survey about screening attitudes all the GPs with an office in the 13 selected hospital districts. During the survey, all the GPs were asked to participate in a trial to evaluate the best strategies to enhance the compliance to CRCS. The conditions for eligibility of the GPs were: more than 100 people aged 50?74 in the practice population; a personal computer in the office; and consent to participate. For each of the 13 districts we sampled 10 eligible GPs. The sampled GPs, primary sampling units, were randomised as follows: for each district, five to the immunochemical test and five to the Guaiac test. We sampled 2/10 of the target practice population for each GP; 1/10 of the population was randomised to the GP arm and 1/10 to the hospital arm.
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: We analysed the lists of randomised patients: the second member of a pair with the same telephone number was rejected and substituted, if assigned to a different arm.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Compliance to screening: (number of returned faeces samples)/(total number of invited subjects) | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Positivity rate; variability of the positivity rate; rate of inadequate samples; positive predictive value. | — |
Countries
Italy
Outcome results
None listed