Benefits, burden, and harm of colorectal cancer screening strategies

Editor's Note

In this modeling study of previously unscreened 40-years olds undergoing colorectal cancer screening, the following screening strategies from ages 50 to 75 years were estimated to provide similar life years gained and a comparable balance of benefit and screening burden:

• colonoscopy every 10 years
• annual fecal immunochemical testing (FIT)
• sigmoidoscopy every 10 years with annual FIT
• computed tomographic colonography every 5 years.

This study was used to inform the US Preventive Services Task Force of the benefits, burden, and harms of colorectal screening strategies for their update of colorectal cancer screening recommendations.

Supplement. eTable 1. Comparison of natural history model structures. eTable 2. FIT test characteristics (per person) by cutoff for positivity. eTable 3. Outcomes with colonoscopy screening strategies. eTable 4. Outcomes with gFOBT screening strategies. eTable 5. Outcomes with FIT screening strategies. eTable 6. Outcomes with FIT-DNA screening strategies. eTable 7.