Screening for colorectal cancer in Market Harborough, UK: a community-based programme

OBJECTIVETo identify those groups of people who fail to participate in colorectal cancer screening programmes, using faecal occult blood tests, and to determine areas of diagnostic delay within such programmes. DESIGNGeneral practitioners in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, UK, offered 4176 people aged from 50–70 years, registered with the practice, a free haemoccult test for the early detection of colorectal cancer. METHODSCompliance was measured according to age and gender. Those patients with positive faecal occult blood tests were investigated with colonoscopy. RESULTSThe compliance rate was 38%, with more women participating than men (42 compared with 33%, x = 37.2, P