Effectiveness of a brief phone intervention to increase participation in a population‐based colorectal cancer screening program: a randomized controlled trial

AIM: Although colorectal cancer (CRC) screening reduces mortality and morbidity the uptake in target populations is suboptimal. The aim was to assess whether adding a brief phone intervention to the usual invitation process increases participation in a CRC screening programme based in Catalonia. METHOD: This was a non-blinded prospective randomized control study of patients eligible for their first CRC screening test (immunochemical faecal occult blood test). Between March and December 2017, 512 invitees (age range 50-69 years) were randomized to receiving either a brief informative phone call prior to receiving the standard screening invitation (letter and informative brochure) or the standard screening invitation alone. The primary outcome was participation in the screening programme at 6 months. RESULTS: In all, 492/512 patients (54.7% women; 45.3% men) could be analysed (239/256 intervention group; 253/256 control group). On an intention to treat basis, the intervention group (55% women; 45% men) saw an 11% increase in the participation rate (51.05% vs 40.32%, P = 0.017). The intervention was more effective in male patients (50.93% vs 33.91%, P = 0.01) and those patients aged between 50 and 54 years (54.32% vs 37.77%, P = 0.03). After adjusting for sex, age and geographic area, the benefit of the intervention remained statistically significant (adjusted OR 1.54, 95% CI 1.07-2.20). CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that a brief, informative intervention by phone in addition to the usual invitation process is effective in increasing participation in a CRC screening programme. It may be a useful strategy to improve uptake in groups which are less likely to participate in CRC screening (clinicaltrials.gov NCT03082911).