Pilot of bowel cancer screening shows lower uptake in second round

doi:10.1136/bmj.39413.623009.DB

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Roger Dobson

Abergavenny

A pilot project to test the acceptability of screening people for bowel cancer has shown a low uptake, with less than half of the men who were invited to take part doing so.

Uptake was also low in deprived areas and in some ethnic groups, says the report on the second round of the UK colorectal cancer screening pilot (British Journal of Cancer doi: 10.1038/sj.bjc.6604089). The first round of the pilot took place in 2000-3 in two sites, one in England and one in Scotland (BMJ 2004;329:133 doi: 10.1136/bmj.38153.491887.7C). Of those who were invited to take part in the second round 84% had taken part in the first.

The report also warns that screening will significantly increase the need for services, especially endoscopy.

“Our results suggest that ongoing effort will be required to …