Testing outside of the National Bowel and Breast Cancer Screening Programs in Queensland, Australia
Letter
Fletcher, Sabine and Goodwin, Belinda C.. 2024. "Testing outside of the National Bowel and Breast Cancer Screening Programs in Queensland, Australia." Journal of Medical Screening. https://doi.org/10.1177/09691413241256595
Article Title | Testing outside of the National Bowel and Breast Cancer Screening Programs in Queensland, Australia |
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ERA Journal ID | 13657 |
Article Category | Letter |
Authors | Fletcher, Sabine and Goodwin, Belinda C. |
Journal Title | Journal of Medical Screening |
Number of Pages | 4 |
Year | 2024 |
Publisher | SAGE Publications Ltd |
Place of Publication | United Kingdom |
ISSN | 0969-1413 |
1475-5793 | |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1177/09691413241256595 |
Web Address (URL) | https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09691413241256595 |
Abstract | Setting: Bowel and breast cancer testing outside of the national programs is not routinely recorded in Australia, limiting our ability to monitor and estimate true screening coverage. Objective: This study makes preliminary estimates of the proportion of eligible participants who test for bowel and breast cancer outside of national programs using a large convenience sample of 31,065 cancer risk calculator respondents. Methods: Logistic regression was applied to assess difference in cancer testing both within and outside respective programs between demographic groups. Results: Almost one-third (9456 respondents) were aged between 50 and 74 years and eligible to participate in the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) with 8073 female respondents additionally qualifying for the national BreastScreen program. Out of 4166 respondents who reported not to participate in the NBCSP, over 2000 (48.4%) reported ‘screening’ outside the NBCSP. For breast cancer the rate of self-reported screening outside BreastScreen was even higher, with 2442 (73.8%) of 3308 respondents who did not participate in BreastScreen reporting undergoing testing elsewhere. Interestingly, outer regional or remote residence was associated with lower participation within the NBCSP (OR = 0.92; p = 0.05) and higher testing outside of BreastScreen (OR = 1.21; p < 0.05) screening programs. Conclusion: Findings provide preliminary support for the need to better understand the volume of cancer testing taking place outside the national programs and to address reporting gaps within the health system. |
Keywords | bowel cancer; Breast cancer; reporting; screening; population screening programs |
Contains Sensitive Content | Does not contain sensitive content |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 321104. Cancer therapy (excl. chemotherapy and radiation therapy) |
Public Notes | The accessible file is the accepted version of the paper. Please refer to the URL for the published version. |
Byline Affiliations | Cancer Council Queensland, Australia |
Centre for Health Research |
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