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Use of faecal immunochemical tests common in patients with suspected colorectal cancer but unrelated to travel distance to secondary care : a population-based study from Swedish primary care

Högberg, Cecilia ; Cronberg, Olof LU orcid ; Thulesius, Hans LU ; Lilja, Mikael ; Jansson, Stefan and Gunnarsson, Ulf (2022) In Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care 40(4). p.459-465
Abstract

Background: Evidence is increasing for the use of faecal immunochemical tests (FITs) for occult blood as diagnostic tools when colorectal cancer can be suspected. FITs have been used for this purpose in Swedish primary care since around 2005 despite absence of supporting guidelines. To our knowledge, the extent of this use has not been studied. Objective: To investigate the use of FITs as diagnostic tools, and if the use was related to patient age, sex and travel time from primary care to diagnostic facilities in secondary care. Design: Population-based retrospective study using data from electronic health records. Setting and subjects: Patients ≥18 years that provided FITs in primary care in five Swedish health care regions during... (More)

Background: Evidence is increasing for the use of faecal immunochemical tests (FITs) for occult blood as diagnostic tools when colorectal cancer can be suspected. FITs have been used for this purpose in Swedish primary care since around 2005 despite absence of supporting guidelines. To our knowledge, the extent of this use has not been studied. Objective: To investigate the use of FITs as diagnostic tools, and if the use was related to patient age, sex and travel time from primary care to diagnostic facilities in secondary care. Design: Population-based retrospective study using data from electronic health records. Setting and subjects: Patients ≥18 years that provided FITs in primary care in five Swedish health care regions during 2015. Driving times from their primary care centres to secondary care were calculated. Main outcome measures: The proportion of patients that provided FITs was calculated for each region, different age intervals and grouped driving times. Results: 18,913 patients provided FITs. The proportion of listed patients in the five regions that provided FITs increased with age: 0.86–1.2% for ages <65 years, 3.6–4.1% for ages 65–79 years and 3.8–6.1% for ages ≥80 years. Differences between the regions were small. There was no overall correlation between the proportion of patients that provided FITs and driving time to secondary care. Conclusion: FITs were used extensively in Swedish primary care with a higher use in older age groups. There was no tendency towards a higher use of FITs at primary care centres with longer driving times to secondary care.Key Points Evidence is increasing for the use of faecal immunochemical tests (FITs) as diagnostic tools when colorectal cancer can be suspected. We investigated the use of FITs in Sweden. FITs were used extensively in primary care especially in older age groups. There were small differences in the use of FITs between five studied health care regions. There was no tendency towards a higher use of FITs at primary care centres with longer driving times to diagnostic facilities in secondary care.

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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Colorectal cancer, faecal immunochemical tests, occult blood, primary health care, Sweden, travel time
in
Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care
volume
40
issue
4
pages
459 - 465
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • pmid:36380479
  • scopus:85142305087
ISSN
0281-3432
DOI
10.1080/02813432.2022.2144934
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
id
20597e54-f68c-48a7-9397-a02b46b398d1
date added to LUP
2022-12-14 06:52:41
date last changed
2024-04-14 04:52:32
@article{20597e54-f68c-48a7-9397-a02b46b398d1,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background: Evidence is increasing for the use of faecal immunochemical tests (FITs) for occult blood as diagnostic tools when colorectal cancer can be suspected. FITs have been used for this purpose in Swedish primary care since around 2005 despite absence of supporting guidelines. To our knowledge, the extent of this use has not been studied. Objective: To investigate the use of FITs as diagnostic tools, and if the use was related to patient age, sex and travel time from primary care to diagnostic facilities in secondary care. Design: Population-based retrospective study using data from electronic health records. Setting and subjects: Patients ≥18 years that provided FITs in primary care in five Swedish health care regions during 2015. Driving times from their primary care centres to secondary care were calculated. Main outcome measures: The proportion of patients that provided FITs was calculated for each region, different age intervals and grouped driving times. Results: 18,913 patients provided FITs. The proportion of listed patients in the five regions that provided FITs increased with age: 0.86–1.2% for ages &lt;65 years, 3.6–4.1% for ages 65–79 years and 3.8–6.1% for ages ≥80 years. Differences between the regions were small. There was no overall correlation between the proportion of patients that provided FITs and driving time to secondary care. Conclusion: FITs were used extensively in Swedish primary care with a higher use in older age groups. There was no tendency towards a higher use of FITs at primary care centres with longer driving times to secondary care.Key Points Evidence is increasing for the use of faecal immunochemical tests (FITs) as diagnostic tools when colorectal cancer can be suspected. We investigated the use of FITs in Sweden. FITs were used extensively in primary care especially in older age groups. There were small differences in the use of FITs between five studied health care regions. There was no tendency towards a higher use of FITs at primary care centres with longer driving times to diagnostic facilities in secondary care.</p>}},
  author       = {{Högberg, Cecilia and Cronberg, Olof and Thulesius, Hans and Lilja, Mikael and Jansson, Stefan and Gunnarsson, Ulf}},
  issn         = {{0281-3432}},
  keywords     = {{Colorectal cancer; faecal immunochemical tests; occult blood; primary health care; Sweden; travel time}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{459--465}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care}},
  title        = {{Use of faecal immunochemical tests common in patients with suspected colorectal cancer but unrelated to travel distance to secondary care : a population-based study from Swedish primary care}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02813432.2022.2144934}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/02813432.2022.2144934}},
  volume       = {{40}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}