BACKGROUND: The Australian National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) has been offering age-based faecal occult blood testing (FOBT) since 2006. With the rapid expansion of this program, the NBCSP will ultimately offer biennial screening to all 50-74 year olds by 2020. Participation rates remain low. Previous reports have described an increased proportion of earlier stage @entity5 in @entity1 with NBCSP-detected @entity5 . METHODS: Data on consecutive @entity1 enrolled into a prospective, comprehensive, multidisciplinary database at six Victorian hospitals was examined. Clinicopathologic and outcome data were compared for NBCSP and symptomatic presentation @entity1 . RESULTS: We identified 3743 @entity1 that presented with @entity14 ( @entity14 ) at participating hospitals since May 2006. Of 1930 @entity1 aged between 50 and 70 years old, 141(7.3%) had a NBCSP detected @entity5 , 1441(74.7%) presented with symptoms, and 266(13.8%) were diagnosed through screening outside of the NBCSP. Based on the American Society of Anaesthesiology score, the NBCSP @entity1 were fitter. They had an earlier stage of diagnosis, were more likely to be female and less likely to have lymphovascular invasion or to present as an emergency. NBCSP detected @entity1 had a lower rate of recurrence (HR 0.17 p=0.0001) and fewer @entity204 (HR= 0.19, p = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: @entity1 with NBCSP-detected @entity14 have a markedly reduced risk of @entity14 recurrence and @entity204 compared to @entity1 with a symptomatic presentation. The dominant driver of this appears to be earlier stage at diagnosis. Increased promotion of the impact of the NBCSP, including data related to the survival impact, should be undertaken to increase participation rates and achieve further survival gains. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Survival impact of the Australian national bowel XXXX screening program.

@entity5 :: ('MESH:D009369', 'Disease') :: ['cancers', 'cancer', 'tumours'] @entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['Patients', 'patients'] @entity204 :: ('MESH:D003643', 'Disease') :: ['death', 'deaths'] @entity14 :: ('MESH:D015179', 'Disease') :: ['CRC', 'colorectal cancer']
@entity5 :: (MESH:D009369,Disease) :: ['cancer']
