title: Quality of life in participants of a CRC screening program.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Little is known about the effect of participating in a colorectal cancer (CRC) screening programme on quality of life (QOL), neither for participants with a negative nor for those with a positive test result. These findings, however, are important to evaluate the impact of CRC screening.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants from CRC screening trials were sent a questionnaire, which included validated measures on generic health-related QOL, generic anxiety and screen-specific anxiety. Both faecal immunochemical test (FIT) and flexible sigmoidoscopy (FS) participants, either with negative or positive test results, were addressed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The response rate was 73% (1289 out of 1772) for FIT and 78% (536 out of 689) for FS participants, with mean ages varying from 63-66 years. Positive FIT participants had worse physical (PCS-12, 47.1 vs 48.3, P=0.02), but equal mental QOL scores (MCS-12, 51.1 vs 51.6, P=0.26). Positive and negative FS participants had similar QOL scores. Both FIT and FS participants with a positive test result reported more screen-specific anxiety than negative FIT and FS participants. Positive and negative FS participants had similar generic anxiety scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings indicate that the burden of participating in CRC screening may be limited. Conducting a prospective study to confirm these results is recommended.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. a.kapidzic@erasmusmc.nl
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kapidzic
authors.forename: I J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Korfage
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: van Dam
authors.forename: A H C
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: van Roon
authors.forename: J C I Y
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Reijerink
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Zauber
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van Ballegooijen
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Kuipers
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: van Leerdam
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007120:Immunochemistry; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009780:Occult Blood; D011788:Quality of Life; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012812:Sigmoidoscopy