578 Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in the world. There is strong evidence that screening for colorectal cancer improves survival in conutries with high incidence. Although Mexico is considered a country with a low incidence of CRC, 4694 potentially preventable deaths occur every year. There is no established CRC screening program in our country, risk stratification of the target populations to be screened may bring potential advantages, making the strategy more cost-effective. The Asia-Pacific Colorectal Screening (APCS) score, is a validated risk-stratification tool that helps identify individuals at risk for advanced colorectal neoplasm amongst the asymptomatic population. Methods: We performed a retrospective, cross-sectional analysis of database records from 1172 patients who underwent screening colonoscopy betwen january 2013 and november 2014. Results: The prevalence of advanced colorectal neoplasia was 2.9%. Applying the APCS stratification, 91 subjects (7.8%) were in the average risk tier, 849 subjects (72.4%) in the moderate risk tier and 232 (19.8%) subjects in the high risk tier. The prevalence of advanced neoplasia in the average risk, moderate risk and high risk groups was 0%, 2.6% and 5.1%, respectively. The subjects in the high risk tier had 2.21-fold (p = 0.021) increased prevalence of advanced neoplasia than those in the average-moderate tier. Conclusions: The APCS score is a simple risk stratification index for colorectal advanced neoplasm that uses elementary clinical information on age, gender, family history and smoking to stratify the risk of colorectal advanced neoplasm in asymptomatic subjects for priority of colorectal screening.
Ethical dilemma of colorectal screening: What age should a screening colonoscopy start and stop?
