How and why do we screen for colorectal cancer?

After almost 50 years of data analysis, screening for colorectal cancer has proven to be an effective tool in reducing colorectal cancer mortality. However, implementing the optimal strategy represents a challenge for many healthcare facilities around the world. There is much discussion regarding how screening should be done, the optimal tools that should be used, and the proper timing for screening procedures. Another essential step is to maintain the adherence of patients to screening programs. Also, the recommendation for lowering the age to initiate screening is in progress, as there is an increase in colorectal incidence in people born after 1970.

Effect of healthcare fragmentation on breast, stomach, and colorectal cancer mortality in Colombia: A measurement estimated through administrative databases.

e18808 Background: Fragmentation in healthcare leads to adverse outcomes in cancer patients. Currently there is no fragmentation measurement that has been acknowledged to reliably assess healthcare fragmentation across different health systems. We aimed to measure cancer healthcare fragmentation through administrative databases in Colombia and to calculate its effect on breast, stomach and colorectal cancer mortality. Methods: We conducted a cohort study based on health administrative databases from 2013 to 2017. We combined data from two Colombian national health databases (Capitation Payment Unit database and Vital Statistics from DANE). We developed an algorithm based on ICD-10 codes and oncological procedures to select incident cases of breast, stomach and colorectal cancer. To measure healthcare fragmentation, we identified the number of providers between the dates of the first and last registered services. For patients who died during observation we adjusted the number of providers for survival time in days, otherwise survival time was set to 31 december, 2017. We categorized fragmentation in quartiles and evaluated its effect on mortality rate by Kaplan Meier estimates. Results: We identified three cohorts of patients based on primary tumor site. Age distribution was similar in stomach and colorectal cancer. Fragmentation measured as a continuous variable has a non-parametric distribution in all cohorts. The median of follow-up time ranged between 2.4 to 4.4 years. All-cause mortality rates were highest in stomach cancer, lowest in breast cancer. When measured as quartiles, fragmentation has a consistent dose-response effect increasing all-cause mortality rates. Conclusions: Healthcare fragmentation can be measured through algorithms applied to administrative databases in Colombia. Fragmentation is a predictor for all-cause mortality across different oncologic populations. This measurement based on real-world national administrative data could be used as an indicator of high-quality oncological healthcare for the Colombian healthcare system.[Table: see text]