Cancer screening programmes in the Czech Republic and their results

Screening programmes are a key component of secondary prevention, with the aim of detecting disease at an early stage. In the Czech Republic, five cancer screening programmes are currently fully covered by public health insurance. These include screening for breast cancer, colorectal cancer and cervical cancer, early detection of lung and prostate cancer is also being piloted. The aim of this communication is to present nationwide programmes and the results of the evaluation of key performance indicators.

Based on the data from the National Health Information System, screening programmes are regularly monitored and evaluated. The basic indicators are epidemiological characteristics, such as incidence and mortality, but also indicators of the quality of the screening programme, such as coverage of the target population or the proportion of people with abnormal screening test results.

Analytical outputs show that the incidence and mortality of colorectal and cervical cancer, where the goal is to detect precancerous lesions, are continuously decreasing. Breast cancer mortality is also declining, while incidence has been increasing over the long term, as the role of screening here is to detect cancer at an early stage. Coverage of the target population for breast and cervical cancer screening reaches up to 60%, while for colorectal cancer screening it is above 30%. As part of early detection of lung cancer, nearly 20,000 current or former smokers were examined over 3.5 years, and in more than 3% of cases, a positive finding was detected radiologically during the first screening episode, requiring further investigation. Approximately 250,000 men participated in early detection of prostate cancer over 1.5 years, and just under 9% were found to have elevated prostatic specific angigen levels.

Screening programmes are available to the target population and fully covered by public health insurance. However, continuous monitoring and evaluation are essential, as are following international recommendations, developing the digitalization of healthcare, and providing ongoing education to both the lay and professional public. Available data demonstrate the effectiveness and positive population impact of screening programs.