Colorectal cancer screening of immigrants to Italy. Figures from the 2013 National Survey

Abstract

Background: Colorectal cancer screening programmes in Italy invite 50-69-year-old residents for a faecal immunochemical test every two years, regardless of their citizenship. Methods: The 2013 National Survey on Italian colorectal cancer screening programmes compared immigrants born in low- or middle-income countries with subjects who were born in Italy, by collecting aggregated data on compliance, faecal immunochemical test results, compliance with colonoscopy, detected lesions and stage at diagnosis separately for Italians and immigrants. Results: Overall, 85 screening programmes invited 3,292,451 subjects, of whom 192,629 had been born abroad (5.9%). Compliance with invitation was lower in immigrants (34.3% vs. 51.3% in Italians), with p.