Prevention of Colorectal Cancer in Oman using Colonoscopy & Nutritional Assessment: Pilot study and Validation of Research Tools
Authors: Alsumait Alanoud F. , Al‐Farsi Yahya M. , Waly Mostafa I. , Al‐Qarshoubi Issa M. , Al‐Mounthri Mansour S. 
Published: June 2021

BackgroundDespite the increase in colorectal cancer (CRC) in developing countries, primary prevention is still rudimentary due to limited use of colonoscopy for screening. Also, there is dearth of research of underlying nutritional risk factors for CRC occurrence in Arab countries, including Oman where CRC comprises for 9% of all‐cause mortality among adults.ObjectivesThis project aims to: 1) estimate standardized hospital‐based CRC prevalence among colonoscopy‐recipients attending a teaching hospital in Oman; 2) assess the nutritional status of study participants; and 3) explore the association between oxidative stress and CRC.MethodsThree studies will be conducted. The first study is an ambidirectional cross‐sectional study that will be performed over 5‐years of follow up, from January 2013 to December 2018. Participants will include all colonoscopy‐recipients during the follow‐up period. Collected data include: socio‐demography, anthropometry, clinical parameters, laboratory investigations, colonoscopy reports, and histopathology. Hospital‐based prevalence estimates and 95% confidence intervals will be calculated and standardized using Poisson distribution. The second study is hospital‐based case‐control study, nested on the cross‐sectional study. Case group will include 150 confirmed CRC cases based on colonoscopy & histopathology. Matched control group will include 300 confirmed non‐CRC participants. Comparative nutritional assessment will be conducted using standardized and validated two‐days Food Record and semi‐quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire. Data will be analyzed using SHEA software. The third case‐control study will compare the oxidative stress indices among the CRC cases versus Non‐CRC controls. Enzyme colorimetric and flourometric assays will be applied on serum samples to measure selected oxidative biomarkers: glutathione peroxidase, glutathione, glutathoine reductase, catalase, and total antioxidant capacity. High liquid performance chromatography will be used to measure thiol metabolites: SAM, SAH, cysteine, and homocysteine.ResultsA pilot study has been done on 30 CRC cases and 30 controls. Initial results indicated high response rate (88%) and cooperation rate (92%). Data collection tools have been standardized to the local setup (Cronbach's a = 0.07). Pilot assessment indicated high inter‐rater reliability (Pearson's r coefficient= 0.84); and high validity parameters (content, construct & criterion).ConclusionStudy protocol has been designed & validated to conduct CRC prevalence estimation, comparative nutritional & biochemical assessments between CRC and non‐CRC participants among colonoscopy‐recipients in Oman. Initial piloting indicated high applicability of study tools to local context.Support or Funding InformationSultan Qaboos UniversityThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.