Community fecal immunochemical testing screening programs are important for detecting early disease and are a common way of promoting colorectal cancer screening by primary care physicians. Fecal Immunochemical testing has advantages to the patient as well as to clinical laboratories, but screening rates remain low across Canada and may be associated with sociodemographic factors.
This research assesses the operational test characteristics of a FIT pilot program in Calgary, Alberta. Data from a new community-based screening program were also used to test associations of screening rate with sociodemographic variables.
The performance of FIT in this clinical setting was very good for detecting carcinoma, but marginal for detection of colonic adenomas. There was also significant geographic variation in screening rates in Calgary. These are associated with a number of sociodemographic factors.