[Cost of a mass screening program for colorectal cancer using the occult blood test]

The Cancer Registry of Burgundy, France, set up a controlled study involving 91,000 people aged 45 to 74 to ascertain the cost-effectiveness of mass screening for colorectal cancer with the Hemoccult test. The aim of this study was to estimate the cost of the first part of the screening campaign, which took place in 1988 and 1989. The overall cost of the campaign was 2,275,589 FF. The cost for the GPs' instruction course was 3.9 percent and the press campaign, 8.4 percent of total costs. The cost related to the distribution or prescription of tests by the GPs was 60.3 percent of the total cost of the campaign. The average cost per test was 39.8 FF when it was distributed by the GPs. The average cost per test was 116.4 FF when bought individually in drugstores or pharmacies. The average cost per test was 70.1 FF when mailing was used. The average cost per test for the analysis was 12.7 FF that is to say 13.7 percent of the total cost. The cost of scientific follow-up and analysis was 13.8 percent. The cost for one person completing the test averaged 92.7 FF. The preliminary results of the cost-effectiveness analysis make it possible to estimate the cost of the mass screening campaign for colorectal cancer. Better cost/effectiveness ratios have already been made according to these results.