Epidemiology and population-based screening of colorectal cancer in the Czech Republic according to recent data
Abstract
Over a number of years, the Czech Republic has had one of the highest incidences and mortality rates for colorectal cancer globally. Each year in the Czech Republic nearly 8,000 people are diagnosed with colorectal cancer and there are approximately 3,600 deaths from the disease.
The prevalence of colorectal cancer patients reached almost 55,000 by 2013, and there is a 4% increase each year. Moreover, the prevalence involves a large proportion of patients diagnosed with advanced colorectal cancer, as more than 50% of colorectal cancer cases each year are diagnosed in clinical stages III and IV.
The high epidemiological burden itself justifies the need for an organised screening programme, which has a strong background in evidence-based medicine as regards this particular disease. The Czech National Colorectal Cancer Screening Programme has sufficient capacity and is guaranteed by general practitioners, gastroenterologists and gynaecologists.
Personalised invitations for Czech citizens to cancer screening programmes were launched in January 2014, and the programme has since transformed into the desirable regime of the so-called population-based screening. The response rate was 17.3% in the first round of invitations, and 11.8% in the second round of invitations.
The screening coverage has increased significantly as a result of personalised invitations, reaching 30.8% of the entire target population in 2014. Evaluation of the first stage of personalised invitations has again confirmed its significance and its positive impact on the effectiveness of the prevention programme.
In the long term, the ongoing screening programme has influenced the main epidemiological trends, i.e. a stabilised or even slightly decreasing incidence and longer survival rates of colorectal cancer patients.