Impact of stopping sending colorectal cancer screening test kits by regular mail

From 2009 to 2013, the French colorectal cancer screening program (CRCSP) provided for a medical phase and a phase of systematic mailing of the test kit (SMTK) to people who could not participate in the medical phase. After 2013, the SMTK was abandoned in most districts. This study aims to analyze the impact of this termination.

This was a descriptive and cohort study.

The study concerned a cohort of 143,989 people (aged 50-74 years) living in Seine-Saint-Denis (France), invited to participate in the 2013 campaign (with SMTK) and in the 2015 campaign (without SMTK). The impact of SMTK termination was analyzed in terms of the difference between the participation rates and between the delay (expected vs observed) in performing the screening test in 2015. These differences were described based on previous solicitation in the CRCSP. Expected rates and expected delay were estimated in a Monte Carlo simulation.

The participation rate observed (20.0%) was higher than expected (16.1% [15.9-16.3]). People who have never had a SMTK between 2007 and 2013 (80.0% [79.3-80.7] vs 69.6%) and those who participated in all campaigns before 2015 (97.0% [96.7-97.3] vs 82.6%) had an observed rate lower than expected. The delay observed (4.2 months) was longer than expected (2.5 months).

The sudden termination certainly contributed to the extension of the delay. However, it did not have a major impact on the participation rate, partly due to information campaigns on the new screening test. In this cohort, the low participation would be explained better by the behavior in the previous campaigns than by the lack of SMTK.