%0 Journal Article
%T Gender
%A Christian L£¿wbeer
%A Daniel £¿hman
%A Deborah Saraste
%A Johannes Blom
%A K. Miriam Elfstr£¿m
%A Marika Sventelius
%A Sven T£¿rnberg
%J Journal of Medical Screening
%@ 1475-5793
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0969141318804843
%X Using quantitative Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) in colorectal cancer screening enables adjustment of the cut-off for a positive test. As men have higher stool blood levels and higher prevalence of colorectal neoplasia, different cut-off levels can be chosen for men and women. We evaluated participation and positivity rates switching from guaiac-based faecal occult blood test (gFOBT) (Hemoccult£¿) to FIT (OC-Sensor), using gender-specific cut-offs. The colorectal cancer screening programme of Stockholm-Gotland, Sweden, started in 2008 and invited individuals aged 60¨C69 to biennial testing using gFOBT. From 1 October 2015 the test was switched to FIT, with positivity cut-offs of 40 (200) and 80 (400) ¦Ìg Hb/g (ng/mL) faeces for women and men, respectively. The first year was evaluated for compliance and positivity, number of reminders and incorrect/inadequate tests, compared with gFOBT in the preceding 12-month period. There were 127,030 and 87,269 individuals invited to screening with gFOBT and FIT, respectively. The change of test increased overall participation by 11.9% (95% confidence interval 11.5%¨C12.3%) from 56.5% to 68.4% (p£¿<£¿0.001). The increase was larger in men (14.3%) than women (9.7%), and in those aged 60¨C64 (14.2%) than those aged 65¨C69 (8.7%). The positivity rate was 2.6% in women and 2.5% in men. There was a lower rate of reminders and incorrect/inadequate tests with FIT. Within a well-organised colorectal cancer screening programme, changing the test from gFOBT to FIT markedly increased participation, especially among men, and in the younger age group. With a lower cut-off in women than men, the positivity rate was similar
%K Colorectal cancer
%K faecal haemoglobin
%K gender
%K faecal immunochemical test
%K faecal occult blood test
%K screening
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0969141318804843