Effectiveness of tailored talks between a cancer screening specialist and general practitioners to improve the uptake of colorectal cancer screening in Ancona (Italy) during the pandemic period

Figures & data

Table 1. CRC screening uptake across GP clusters in fabriano vs the rest of the ancona province. Periods 2018–19 and 2020–21.

GPs-characteristics	Overall (n = 254 GPs)	Intervention county (n = 22 GPs)	Control counties (n = 232 GPs)	p* (between groups)
Male gender, %	63.0	63.6	63.0	.9
Age in 2018 in years, mean (SD)	58.2 (7.5)	61.2 (5.9)	58.0 (7.5)	.012
Years 2018–19
Number of eligible persons, mean (SD)	363 (137)	354 (80)	364 (142)	.6
% uptake, mean (SD)	38.8 (10.8)	39.9 (8.4)	38.7 (11.0)	.5
GPs reaching the 45% uptake threshold, %	21.6	9.1	22.8	.13
Years 2020–21
Number of eligible persons, mean (SD)	396 (88)	404 (58)	395 (90.1)	.9
% uptake, mean (SD)	35.2 (9.8)	40.8 (6.4)	34.7 (9.9)	.003
GPs reaching the 45% uptake threshold, %	15.7	18.2	15.5	.7
% difference in eligible persons 2020–21 to 2018–19, mean (SD)	8.8 (26.1)	12.7 (13.7)	8.4 (27.0)	.2
p^† (within groups)	<.001	<.001	<.001
Difference in % uptake 2020–21 to 2018–19, mean (SD)	−3.6 (8.4)	0.9 (8.6)	−4.0 (8.3)	<.001
p^† (within groups)	<.001	.6	<.001
Difference in % GPs reaching the 45% uptake 2020–21 to 2018–19, %	5.9	9.1	−7.3	.03
p^† (within groups)	.007	.3	.001

CRC: colorectal cancer; GP: General Practitioner; SD: Standard deviation.

*Kruskal–Wallis test for continuous variables and Chi-squared test for categorical ones for comparisons between groups.

^†Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test for continuous variables and Exact McNemar’s test for categorical ones for comparisons within groups.

Table 2. Results of the random-effects linear regression predicting differences (%) in CRC screening uptake in 2020–21 compared to 2018–19, with geographic area as the cluster variable.

GPs-characteristics	Coefficient	95% CI	p*
Fabriano (vs the rest of the Ancona Province)	5.07	2.02; 8.11	.001
Male gender	0.89	−1.00; 2.78	.4
Age (10-year increase)	1.51	0.16; 2.85	.028
Difference in eligible persons 2020–21 to 2018–19, (10% decrease)	1.65	1.22; 2.07	<.001
Mean number of eligible persons from 2018–21, (100-persons decrease)	0.24	−0.76; 1.24	.6

CRC: colorectal cancer; CI: confidence interval. *Two-tailed Wald test.

Data availability statement

All data is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.