The effect of a pre-scheduled appointment on attendance in a population-based mammography screening programme.
Eur J Public Health
; 33(6): 1122-1127, 2023 12 09.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37555832
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Pre-scheduled appointments can increase attendance in breast cancer screening programmes compared to 'open invitations' but relatively few randomized controlled trials exist. We investigated the effect of a pre-scheduled appointment on uptake in the Flemish population-based mammography screening programme.METHODS:
Between September and December 2022, a total of 4798 women were randomly assigned to receive either a pre-scheduled appointment or open invitation. The difference in attendance was compared with Poisson regression analysis for the primary endpoint (attendance ≤92 days after date of invitation), yielding relative risks (RRs). This was done separately for three groups women invited to a mobile unit and a history of nonattendance (group M-NA); women invited to a hospital-based unit and a history of nonattendance (group HB-NA); women invited to a hospital-based unit and a history of irregular attendance (group HB-IA). There were no women invited to a mobile unit and a history of irregular attendance.RESULTS:
The RRs in favour of the pre-scheduled appointment were 2.3 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.80-2.88], 1.8 (95% CI 1.07-2.97) and 1.8 (95% CI 1.43-2.39), for groups M-NA, HB-NA and HB-IA, respectively. We found no statistically significant difference between the various RRs. The respective absolute gains in attendance between pre-scheduled appointment and open invitation were 8.3%, 4.4% and 15.8%.CONCLUSIONS:
Sending an invitation with a pre-scheduled appointment is an effective tool to increase screening attendance in both mobile and hospital-based screening units. The pre-scheduled appointment is associated with a considerable absolute gain in attendance which varies depending on the screening history.
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Neoplasias da Mama
/
Mamografia
Tipo de estudo:
Clinical_trials
/
Diagnostic_studies
/
Screening_studies
Limite:
Female
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Eur J Public Health
Assunto da revista:
EPIDEMIOLOGIA
/
SAUDE PUBLICA
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Bélgica