Dataset Information

A Postcard Primer Prior to Mailed Fecal Immunochemical Test Among Veterans: a Randomized Controlled Trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Mailed fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) programs are increasingly utilized for population-based colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. Advanced notifications (primers) are one behavioral designed feature of many mailed FIT programs, but few have tested this feature among Veterans.

Objective

To determine if an advanced notification, a primer postcard, increases completion of FIT among Veterans.

Design

This is a prospective, randomized quality improvement trial to evaluate a postcard primer prior to a mailed FIT versus mailed FIT alone.

Participants

A total of 2404 Veterans enrolled for care at a large VA site that were due for average-risk CRC screening.

Intervention

A written postcard sent 2 weeks in advance of a mailed FIT kit that contained information on CRC screening and completing a FIT.

Main measures

Our primary outcome was FIT completion at 90 days, and our secondary outcome was FIT completion at 180 days.

Key results

Overall, unadjusted mailed FIT return rates were similar among control vs. primer arms at 90 days (27% vs. 29%, p = 0.11). Our adjusted analysis found a primer postcard did not increase FIT completion compared to mailed FIT alone (OR 1.14 (0.94, 1.37)).

Conclusions

Though primers are often a standard part of mailed FIT programs, we did not find an increase in FIT completion with mailed postcard primers among Veterans. Given the overall low mailed FIT return rates, testing different ways to improve return rates is essential to improving CRC screening.

SUBMITTER: Deeds S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10249919 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

A Postcard Primer Prior to Mailed Fecal Immunochemical Test Among Veterans: a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Deeds Stefanie S Liu Terrence T Schuttner Linnaea L Wheat Chelle C Gunnink Eric E Geyer John J Beste Lauren L Chen Anders A Dominitz Jason A JA Nelson Kari K Reddy Ashok A

Journal of general internal medicine 20230608 14

<h4>Background</h4>Mailed fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) programs are increasingly utilized for population-based colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. Advanced notifications (primers) are one behavioral designed feature of many mailed FIT programs, but few have tested this feature among Veterans.<h4>Objective</h4>To determine if an advanced notification, a primer postcard, increases completion of FIT among Veterans.<h4>Design</h4>This is a prospective, randomized quality improvement trial to ev ...[more]

PMID: 37291363

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates remain suboptimal, particularly in low-income and underserved populations. Mailed fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) may overcome common barriers to screening; however, the effect of mailed FIT kits may differ across important subpopulations. The goal of the current study was to examine sociodemographic and health-related factors that moderate the effect of an intervention of automated direct mail of FIT kits at health clinics serving low-income populations. METHODS:This study is a secondary analysis of the Strategies and Opportunities to Stop Colon Cancer in Priority Populations (STOP CRC) study, a cluster-randomized pragmatic trial to increase uptake of CRC screening in patients seen at federally qualified health centers. The intervention involved tools embedded in the electronic medical records to enable participating clinics to mail FIT kits and related materials to eligible participants. We examined the rate of FIT completion by potential moderating characteristics using electronic health record data supplemented by the American Community Survey and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Geographic Variation datasets, linked via geocoding to patients' addresses. All patients aged 50-75 seen in participating health clinics who were eligible for CRC screening were included. RESULTS:Although not always statistically significant, we saw a consistent pattern of increased FIT return rates among intervention participants compared to control participants across all subgroups studied, with incidence rate ratios (IRRs) generally ranging from 1.25 to 1.50. FIT completion in the intervention group ranged from 15 and 20% across subpopulations, typically three to six percentage points higher than the control group participants. The only moderator with a statistically significant interaction was race: persons of Asian descent showed a twofold response to the intervention (adjusted incidence rate ratio [aIRR] = 2.06, 95% confidence interval 1.41 to 3.00). CONCLUSIONS:Response to a mailed FIT intervention was generally consistent across a wide range of individual and neighborhood-level patient characteristics, including typically underserved patients and those in low-resource communities. TRIAL REGISTRATION:ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01742065. Registered on 5 December 2012.

Project description:ImportanceFecal immunochemical tests for hemoglobin are widely used for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. Observational studies suggested that sensitivity of fecal immunochemical tests for detecting advanced neoplasms could be increased by acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin), especially among men.ObjectiveTo evaluate the potential to increase sensitivity of fecal immunochemical tests by administering a single 300-mg oral aspirin dose 2 days before stool sampling.Design, setting, and participantsA randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial was conducted in 14 gastroenterology practices and 4 hospitals in Germany, and included 2422 men and women aged 40 to 80 years scheduled for colonoscopy, with no recent use of aspirin or other drugs with antithrombotic effects (enrollment from June 2013 to November 2016, and final follow-up January 27, 2017).InterventionsAdministration of a single tablet containing 300 mg of aspirin (n = 1208) or placebo (n = 1214) 2 days before fecal sampling for fecal immunochemical test.Main outcome and measuresThe primary outcome was sensitivity of a quantitative fecal immunochemical test at 2 predefined cutoffs (10.2 and 17-μg Hb/g stool) for detecting advanced neoplasms (colorectal cancer or advanced adenoma).ResultsAmong 2422 randomized patients (mean [SD] age, 59.6 [7.9] years; 1219, 50%, men), 2134 were included in the analysis (78% for primary screening colonoscopy, 22% for diagnostic colonoscopy). Advanced neoplasms were identified in 224 participants (10.5%), including 8 participants (0.4%) with CRC and 216 participants (10.1%) with advanced adenoma. Sensitivity was 40.2% in the aspirin group and 30.4% in the placebo group (difference 9.8%, 95% CI, -3.1% to 22.2%, P = .14) at cutoff 10.2-μg Hb/g stool and 28.6% in the aspirin and 22.5% in the placebo group (difference 6.0%, 95% CI, -5.7% to 17.5%, P = .32) at cutoff 17-μg Hb/g stool.Conclusions and relevanceAmong adults aged 40 to 80 years not using aspirin or other antithrombotic medications, administration of a single dose of oral aspirin prior to fecal immunochemical testing, compared with placebo, did not significantly increase test sensitivity for detecting advanced colorectal neoplasms at 2 predefined cutoffs of a quantitative fecal immunochemical test.Trial registrationDeutsches Register Klinischer Studien Identifier: DRKS00003252; EudraCT Identifier: 2011-005603-32/DE.

Project description:IntroductionThe use of screening can prevent death from colorectal cancer, yet people without regular healthcare visits may not realize the benefits of this preventive intervention. The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a mailed screening invitation or mailed fecal immunochemical test in increasing colorectal cancer screening uptake in veterans without recent primary care encounters.Study designThree-arm pragmatic randomized trial.Setting/participantsParticipants were screening-eligible veterans aged 50-75 years, without a recent primary care visit who accessed medical services at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veteran Affairs Medical Center between January 1, 2017, and July 31, 2017. All data were analyzed from March 1, 2018, to July 31, 2018.InterventionParticipants were randomized to (1) usual opportunistic screening during a healthcare visit (n=260), (2) mailed invitation to screen and reminder phone calls (n=261), or (3) mailed fecal immunochemical test outreach plus reminder calls (n=61).Main outcome measuresThe main outcome under investigation was the completion of colorectal cancer screening within 6 months after randomization.ResultsOf 782 participants in the trial, 53.9% were aged 60-75 years and 59.7% were African American. The screening rate was higher in the mailed fecal immunochemical test group (26.1%) compared with usual care (5.8%) (rate difference=20.3%, 95% CI=14.3%, 26.3%; RR=4.52, 95% CI=2.7, 7.7) or screening invitation (7.7%) (rate difference=18.4%, 95% CI=12.2%, 24.6%; RR=3.4, 95% CI=2.1, 5.4). Screening completion rates were similar between invitation and usual care (rate difference=1.9%, 95% CI= -2.4%, 6.2%; RR=1.3, 95% CI=0.7, 2.5).ConclusionsMailed fecal immunochemical test screening promotes colorectal cancer screening participation among veterans without a recent primary care encounter. Despite the addition of reminder calls, an invitation letter was no more effective in screening participation than screening during outpatient appointments.Trial registrationThis study is registered at clinicaltrials.gov NCT02584998.

Dataset Information

A Postcard Primer Prior to Mailed Fecal Immunochemical Test Among Veterans: a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background

Objective

Design

Participants

Intervention

Main measures

Key results

Conclusions

Publications

A Postcard Primer Prior to Mailed Fecal Immunochemical Test Among Veterans: a Randomized Controlled Trial.

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