PART OF GENERAL-PRACTITIONERS IN DETERMIN ATION OF TARGET POPULATION FOR COLORECTAL-CANCER MASS-SCREENING

Objective. - People at high risk of colorectal cancer, due to familial or personal history, or to specific symptoms, are considered not to b e concerned by mass screening by Haemoccult test. the aim of this stud y was to investigate people aged 50 to 74 with high risk of colorectal cancer among general practitioners' practices in the department of Ca lvados (France). Methods. - A random sample of 200 general practitione rs were asked to systematically fill out a questionnaire on Haemoccult II(R) proposal for 50-74 year-old patients for a whole week. Results. - Participation rate of general practitioners was 58.5%. According to our findings, 13 % of 50-74 years patients are considered not be conc erned by mass screening, due to familial or personal history, or to sp ecific symptoms.Conclusions. - Colorectal cancer screening protocol ha ve to be fit to level of risk of colorectal cancer. Involvement of gen eral practitioners in colorectal cancer mass screening allows identifi cation of high risk people who can then be managed with a more suitabl e screening protocol.