title: Association of FOBT-assessed faecal Hb content with colonic lesions detected in the Florence screening programme.
abstract: We assessed the correlation between quantitative results of immunological faecal occult blood testing (I-FOBT) and colonic lesions (191 colorectal cancers, 890 adenomas) detected at colonoscopy in 2597 FOBT+ (cutoff 100 ng ml(-1) Hb) subjects. At univariate analysis, a higher average faecal Hb content was significantly associated with male gender (P=0.003), age (P=0.02), and colonoscopy findings (P=0.000). Among adenomas, higher faecal Hb content was significantly associated with size (P=0.0000), presence of severe dysplasia (P=0.0001), presence of villous component (P=0.0002), and location in the left colon (P=0.003). At multivariate analysis adjusting for potential confounders, age (P=0.03), size (P=0.0000), and location in the left colon (P=0.0005) were confirmed as having an independent association with higher faecal Hb content. Immunological FOBT is confirmed to be a specific screening test to detect cancer and adenoma, with a low positivity rate (3.7%) and a high positive predictive value (41.5%). Faecal Hb content is significantly higher for those lesions (cancer and high-risk adenomas) screening is aimed at detecting.
authors.affiliation: Centro per lo Studio e la Prevenzione Oncologica, Viale Volta 171, 50131 Firenze, Italy. s.ciatto@cspo.it
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ciatto
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Martinelli
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Castiglione
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mantellini
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rubeca
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Grazzini
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Bonanomi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Confortini
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zappa
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry*; D005260:Female; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009780:Occult Blood
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins