Do no harm: no psychological harm from colorectal cancer screening.
Br J Cancer
; 114(5): 497-504, 2016 Mar 01.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26867161
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Participation in cancer screening programmes might cause worries in the population outweighting the benefits of reduced mortality. The present study aimed to investigate possible psychological harm of participation in a colorectal cancer (CRC) screening pilot in Norway.METHODS:
In a prospective, randomised trial participants (aged 50-74 years) were invited to either flexible sigmoidoscopy (FS) screening, faecal immunochemical test (FIT), or no screening (the control group; 1 1 1). Three thousand two hundred and thirteen screening participants (42% of screened individuals) completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale questionnaire as well as the SF-12-a health-related quality of life (HRQOL) questionnaire when invited to screening and when receiving the screening result. A control group was invited to complete the questionnaires only. Two thousand six hundred and eighteen control participants (35% of invited individuals) completed the questionnaire.RESULTS:
A positive screening result did not increase participants' level of anxiety or depression, or decrease participants' level of HRQOL. Participants who received a negative result reported decreased anxiety and improvement on some HRQOL dimensions. However, no change was considered to be of clinical relevance.CONCLUSION:
The current study showed no clinically relevant psychological harm of receiving a positive CRC screening result or of participating in FS or FIT screening, in a Norwegian population.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Anxiety
/
Stress, Psychological
/
Colorectal Neoplasms
/
Depression
/
Early Detection of Cancer
Type of study:
Clinical_trials
/
Diagnostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
/
Screening_studies
Limits:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Br J Cancer
Year:
2016
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Norway