Recruitment of subjects for fecal occult blood screening: a comparison of two methods in Jerusalem.
Two approaches to the recruitment of subjects for screening for fecal occult blood were tested in two middle-class neighborhoods in Jerusalem. After invitations were mailed to 2,909 persons aged 40 and older, 855 (29%) requested the special "Colo-Screen" packet of slides; and 496, one-sixth of those contacted originally, ultimately returned stool specimens for examination. In a parallel campaign by family doctors, invitations were distributed personally to 324 patients visiting a Sick Fund Clinic; 225 (69%) requested Colo-Screen slides and 137 (42% of the persons invited) sent in stool specimens. Males and females responded equally. Of the 633 specimens received, 29 (4.6%) were positive for occult blood; two cancers and seven adenomatous polyps were found and resected. Screening programs for colorectal cancer should encourage greater personal participation of family doctors in the recruitment process.
D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D009780:Occult Blood; D010821:Physicians, Family; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*