Epidemiol Prev
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Screening for colorectal cancer in Italy: 2004 survey.
We present the main results of the first national survey of organised screening programmes, conducted by the Italian Group for Colorectal Cancer Screening (GISCoR). During 2004, 18 programs, adopting faecal occult blood testing (FOBT), sigmoidoscopy (FS), or a combination of both, were active in Italy. Overall, 331,333 subjects were invited to undergo FOBT and 165,480 were screened; the attendance rate (51.3%) equals the best performances reported in the literature. ⋯ FS showed a higher sensitivity both for HRA (DR was four times higher) and for CRC. In conclusion, colorectal cancer screening looks feasible. The reported experiences showed good results in terms of attendance and DR, although some critical aspects need to be carefully addressed when planning and implementing screening activity.
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The aim of this study, carried out by the Italian Network of Cancer Registries (AIRT), the National Centre for Disease Prevention and Control of the Ministry of Health, the National Institute of Public Health and the National Institute of Statistics, is to describe cancer incidence and mortality in Italy. ⋯ This publication presents a wide and qualified documentation on cancer in Italy; it uses both observed data from the Cancer Registries that involve about one fourth of the resident population, and estimates; the latter enable us to have reliable data for the whole country. Mortality trends up to 2002 show several relevant changes. This publication is a scientific tool we want to offer to all those who work in the prevention, surveillance, care, and treatment of cancer in Italy.
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The work described in the present report has been requested by the Secretary of Hygiene, Health and Social Welfare of the Sardinia Region (Italy). It has been carried out by the Regional Epidemiological Observatory within the domain of ESA (Epidemiology Development and Environment) and with the support of the European Union. Eighteen areas (for a total of 73 municipalities) were identified a priori as "potentially polluted", accounting for a population of 917,977 in 2001 census (56% of the total population of Sardinia). The areas have been named after the most important town, as listed below (in brackets rounded 2001 population), major activities in industrial areas are briefly described. ⋯ Environmental (non occupational) pollution might explain some of the observed excesses of disease in the investigated industrial areas of Sardinia, particularly in women, less likely to be exposed to hazards in the work environment, whereas in the mining areas studied the disease pattern suggests a major role of occupational exposures. On the other hand, the causal links between disease occurrence and exposures in the screened military areas remain uncertain. The disease patterns in the cities of Sardinia are likely to be associated with lifestyle and urban pollution. Historically, southern Italian Regions have been characterized by an advantage over the rest of the country in terms of health, but during the last decade such advantage tended to vanish. Sardinia confirms this secular trend. However in the most recent years studied, overall age-standardized mortality rate in Sardinian females still remains lower than Italian average, but this is not the case for males any more. Differences in the health profile between residents in different areas of Sardinia have been found to be far greater than the difference between Sardinia as a whole and Italy. A major contribution to intraregional differences is given by the 18 investigated areas where excesses were registered for: respiratory diseases (including cancer) in the industrial areas of Portoscuso, Sarroch and Porto Torres, and in the mining areas; diseases of the digestive tract, liver cancer and lymphohaemopoietic cancer in the area of Porto Torres; cancer of the lymphohaemopoietic system in some military areas; cancers of the colon and rectum, lung, breast and uterus in some of the major cities of the Region.