“Although colonoscopy is widely used as a screening test to detect colorectal cancer, its effect on the risks of colorectal cancer and related death is unclear.”
“We performed a pragmatic, randomized trial involving presumptively healthy men and women 55 to 64 years of age drawn from population registries in Poland, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands between 2009 and 2014.”
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“Follow-up data were available for 84,585 participants in Poland, Norway, and Sweden — 28,220 in the invited group, 11,843 of whom (42.0%) underwent screening, and 56,365 in the usual-care group.”
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“During a median follow-up of 10 years, 259 cases of colorectal cancer were diagnosed in the invited group as compared with 622 cases in the usual-care group.”
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“…..455 persons needed to be invited to undergo screening to prevent one case of colorectal cancer.”
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“Between group differences in the risk of death from colorectal cancer were not significant.”
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M.Bretthauer, et al
Effect of Colonoscopy Screening on Risks of Colorectal Cancer and Related Death
New England Journal Of Medicine — Volume 387 #17 — October 27, 2022 — page 1547