Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. May 28, 2016; 22(20): 4946-4957
Published online May 28, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i20.4946
Colorectal cancer screening in countries of European Council outside of the EU-28
Emma Altobelli, Francesco D’Aloisio, Paolo Matteo Angeletti
Emma Altobelli, Francesco D’Aloisio, Paolo Matteo Angeletti, Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L’Aquila, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy
Emma Altobelli, Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit, AUSL Teramo, University of L’Aquila, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy
Author contributions: Altobelli E contributed to this paper with conception and design of the study, literature review, drafting and critical revision and editing; D’Aloisio F participated to literature search and participated in writing the paper; Angeletti PM participated to literature search, acquired the data and participated in writing the paper; all authors have approved the final version of manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declared no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Emma Altobelli, Professor, Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L’Aquila, Piazzale Salvatore Tommasi 1, 67100 L’Aquila, Coppito (Aq), Italy. emma.altobelli@cc.univaq.it
Telephone: +39-86-2434666 Fax: +39-86-2433425
Received: March 6, 2016
Peer-review started: March 7, 2016
First decision: April 1, 2016
Revised: April 13, 2016
Accepted: May 4, 2016
Article in press: May 4, 2016
Published online: May 28, 2016
Abstract

AIM: To provide an update on colorectal cancer (CRC) screening programmes in non-European Union (EU)-28 Council of Europe member states as of December 2015.

METHODS: The mission of the Council of Europe is to protect and promote human rights in its 47 member countries. Its 19 non-EU member states are Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska, Georgia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Republic of Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland, FYR of Macedonia, Turkey, and Ukraine (EU-19). The main data source were GLOBOCAN, IARC, WHO, EUCAN, NORDCAN, ENCR, volume X of the CI5, the ministerial and Public Health Agency websites of the individual countries, PubMed, EMBASE, registries of some websites and the www.cochranelibrary.com, Scopus, www.clinicaltrials.gov, www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu, Research gate, Google and data extracted from screening programme results.

RESULTS: Our results show that epidemiological data quality varies broadly between EU-28 and EU-19 countries. In terms of incidence, only 30% of EU-19 countries rank high in data quality as opposed to 86% of EU-28 states. The same applies to mortality data, since 52% of EU-19 countries as against all EU-28 countries are found in the high ranks. Assessment of the method of collection of incidence data showed that only 32% of EU-19 countries are found in the top three quality classes as against 89% of EU-28 countries. For the mortality data, 63% of EU-19 countries are found in the highest ranks as opposed to all EU-28 member states. Interestingly, comparison of neighbouring countries offering regional screening shows, for instance, that incidence and mortality rates are respectively 38.9 and 13.0 in Norway and 29.2 and 10.9 in Sweden, whereas in Finland, where a national organised programme is available, they are respectively 23.5 and 9.3.

CONCLUSION: Cancer screening should be viewed as a key health care tool, also because investing in screening protects the weakest in the population, decreases the social burden of cancer, and reduces all types of health care costs, including those for radical surgery, long-term hospitalisation, and chemotherapy.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer, Screening, EU-28, EU-19, European Union, Early detection, European Council

Core tip: In the WHO Europe Region, colorectal cancer (CRC) is the first tumour with 471000 new cases per year and a mortality rate of 28.2 per 100000 population. Large-scale studies have found a reduction in mortality due to the adoption of population-based screening programmes. A 2010 European Parliament resolution called for the adoption of prevention programmes. As a result, some member states have begun enacting programmes, others are organising strategies for CRC screening implementation, and others still are moving from pilot projects to national-scale programmes. The present systematic review provides an update on CRC screening programmes in non EU-28 European Council States.