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Age and Ageing Advance Access originally published online on July 6, 2009
Age and Ageing 2009 38(5):503-508; doi:10.1093/ageing/afp103
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Review

Review of the evidence for a colorectal cancer screening programme in elderly people

Catherine Quarini and Margot Gosney

The School of Health and Social Care and Institute of Health Sciences, University of Reading, London Road, Reading, RG1 5AQ, UK

Address correspondence to: C. Quarini. Tel: (+44) 0771 938 7539; Fax: (+44) 0118 322 6544. Email: catherinequarini{at}doctors.org.uk

Colorectal cancer is a major public health issue, contributing to 16,000 UK deaths per year, most of these in the elderly population. A new NHS screening programme for colorectal cancer in people over 60 is being introduced across the country throughout 2009. The aim of this research was to review the current literature on colorectal cancer screening and determine how much of the evidence for screening is applicable to elderly people. MEDLINE database was searched for articles published between 1990 and 2007, using search terms of colorectal neoplasms, mass-screening, faecal occult blood, colonoscopy and sigmoidoscopy. Articles for inclusion were limited to those in English and those including older adults. The results showed that evidence for colorectal cancer screening in general has been well researched. However, little was found specifically on screening for elderly people, or looking at the different benefits and limitations in older people compared to younger people. Very few health agencies suggested an upper age limit for screening. In conclusion, there is very little research on screening for colorectal cancer specifically in elderly people, although many health authorities advise such screening. The health needs of an older population are different to those of middle-aged people and at present the screening programmes do not appear to reflect this.

Keywords: elderly, colorectal, cancer, screening, review

Received 8 January 2009; accepted in revised form 12 April 2009.


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