Using essential health check-up items and follow-ups for malignant tumor screening / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore cost effective means for early detection of malignant tumors in individuals undergoing health check-up.Methods This was a retrospective study involving 280,477 participants who had undergone health check-up including essential items from 2012 to 2016 at the Health Assessment and Intervention Research Center of Jiangsu Province.The protocol was composed of four steps.First,essential items were decided and conducted for all health examination participants.Second,cases with a high risk of malignant tumors were collected and additional tests were specified.Third,suspected malignant tumor cases were identified and recommendations for referrals and follow-up were made.Finally,physicians in charge of follow up would urge suspected cases to visit an oncologist,update case files,give regular instructions,and track recall results.Results There were 517 microscopically confirmed cases of malignant tumors,representing a detection rate of 184/100,000(1.84‰)in individuals seeking regular health check-up and of 2,023/100,000 (20.23‰)in those receiving follow ups.The five most prevalent malignant tumors were thyroid cancer (140 cases or 0.499‰),lung cancer(120 cases or 0.428‰),breast cancer(35 cases or 0.374‰),kidney cancer(55 cases or 0.196‰)and prostate cancer (33 cases or 0.177‰).Conclusions Essential examination items in combination with subsequent special tests,specialist referrals and follow ups are a cost effective way for early detection of malignant tumors in people seeking regular health examinations.