Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 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.

PubMed Disclaimer

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

References

    1. World Health Organization and International Agency for Research on Cancer. Estimated Cancer Incidence, Mortality and Prevalence Worldwide in 2012. Lyon, France: Lung Cancer GLOBOCAN; 2012.
    1. Bazarbashi S, Al Eid H, Minguet J. Cancer incidence in Saudi Arabia: 2012 data from the saudi cancer registry. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2017;18:2437–44. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alsanea N, Abduljabbar AS, Alhomoud S, Ashari LH, Hibbert D, Bazarbashi S. Colorectal cancer in Saudi Arabia: Incidence, survival, demographics and implications for national policies. Ann Saudi Med. 2015;35:196–202. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Dikshit R, Eser S, Mathers C, Rebelo M, et al. Cancer incidence and mortality worldwide: Sources, methods and major patterns in GLOBOCAN 2012. Int J Cancer. 2015;136:E359–86. - PubMed
    1. Alsanea N, Almadi MA, Abduljabbar AS, Alhomoud S, Alshaban TA, Alsuhaibani A, et al. National guidelines for colorectal cancer screening in Saudi Arabia with strength of recommendations and quality of evidence. Ann Saudi Med. 2015;35:189–95. - PMC - PubMed