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. 2022 Aug;11(8):4435-4439.
doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_16_22. Epub 2022 Aug 30.

The yield of fecal occult blood testing as a screening tool for colon cancer in a primary care setting

Naif M Almoneef  1 , Abdullah H Alkhenizan  1 , Ahmed S Mahmoud  1 , Suad A Alsoghayer  1 , Abdulaziz A Aldheshe  1
Affiliations

The yield of fecal occult blood testing as a screening tool for colon cancer in a primary care setting

Naif M Almoneef et al. J Family Med Prim Care. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Background/aims: The most common cancer among men and the third most common among women in Saudi Arabia is colon cancer. This study aimed to evaluate the yield of the fecal occult blood test (FOBT) used as a screening tool for colon cancer.

Settings and design: Medical records of all patients above the age of 50 years who had visited the Family Medicine clinic at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and who had undergone the FOBT screening between January 2002 and March 2017 were retrospectively reviewed.

Materials and methods: We collected patients' demographic data, FOBT results, and colonoscopy pathology reports results.

Statistical analysis: Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science Version 25 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA).

Results: We included 2179 patients in this study. The mean age was 59.8 ± 8 years. As a result of the FOBT screening, 19.7% of the patients had a positive FOBT. Colon cancer accounted for 3.5% of all abnormal colonoscopy pathology reports. The Saudi age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR) in our study was 26.56 per 100,000 persons.

Conclusion: FOBT is a feasible tool that can be used for colon cancer screening in primary care settings. The Saudi ASIR in our study was higher than the Saudi Cancer Registry, but it was still lower in comparison to other countries. We recommend the establishment of a national community-based colon cancer screening program.

Keywords: Colon cancer; FOBT; Saudi Arabia; colonic polyps; colonoscopy; screening.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pathology report of abnormal colonoscopy findings
Figure 2
Figure 2
The age standardized incidence rate of Colorectal cancer per 100,000 persons as compared to other countries[34]
Figure 3
Figure 3
Comparison of Adenoma Detection Rate percentage reported in different countries[16171819202122]
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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