By Dr Róisín McCarthy, Research Officer, National Screening Service
We’ve published a new study in the Journal of Cancer Epidemiology which shows that COVID-19 delays to screening colonoscopy services did not produce a negative impact on clinical outcomes for BowelScreen participants in Ireland.
BowelScreen is our national bowel screening programme. At the time of our study, the programme aimed to screen adults aged 60 to 69 every two years. Participants use a home testing kit called a faecal immunochemical test (FIT) to send a stool sample to a laboratory to check for small amounts of blood. Participants with a positive FIT are requested to attend for a colonoscopy.
Background to our study
Due to limited healthcare resources and the challenges of COVID-19, many health services were cancelled or postponed during peak surges of the pandemic. This included bowel screening services.
Aim of our study
The aim of our study was to assess the impact of delays in screening colonoscopy, after a positive FIT, on clinical outcomes, as a result of restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
What we did
This study included 3,489 participants from BowelScreen who had positive FIT results during the study period March 2020 to December 2021. Participants were categorised into those attending colonoscopy:
- less than 3 months from the date of a positive test, and
- more than 3 months to 17 months following a positive FIT.
Clinical outcome data including bowel cancer stagings and detection of polyps were compared between the two groups.
What we found
3,227 participants had a colonoscopy less than 3 months after a positive FIT. 262 participants attended colonoscopy between 3 and 17 months after their positive FIT, and the median wait time was 3 months.
- There was no overall difference found between the two groups in the risk of bowel cancer.
- There was no difference in cancer staging in participants who attended for colonoscopy less than 3 months from the date of a positive FIT.
- There was no overall difference found in the proportion of polyps detected between the two groups.
What this tells us
The results of this study show that the impact of a short-term delay (i.e. a median delay of 3 months) in screening colonoscopies does not adversely affect clinical outcomes.
McCarthy R., Mooney T., Fitzpatrick P., Kennedy R., Coffey H., Sheedy M., MacMathúna P., “The impact of delayed screening colonoscopies during the COVID-19 pandemic on clinical outcomes”, Journal of Cancer Epidemiology. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.canep.2024.102629