FOBT Screening Linked to Reduction in CRC Mortality

MONDAY, Aug. 24, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Screening invitation and participation were associated with a reduction in colorectal cancer (CRC) mortality in a cohort study of population-based fecal occult blood test (FOBT) screening, published online Aug. 20 in JAMA Network Open.

Johannes Blom, M.D., Ph.D., from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and colleagues estimated associations of invitation to and participation in screening with CRC mortality reduction, adjusting for death from CRC diagnosed more than two years after screening cessation and nonadherence in a prospective cohort study conducted between 2008 and 2021. Yearly birth cohorts of individuals aged 60 to 69 years (born 1938 to 1954) were randomly assigned to a study group (SG) invited to screen between 2008 and 2012 or to a control group (CG) invited to screen between 2013 and 2015 or not invited to screen.

A total of 376,511 individuals were included in the study: 203,692 in the SG and 172,819 in the CG. The researchers found 856 and 812 CRC deaths in the SG and CG, respectively, during follow-up. The mortality rate ratio was 0.74 after adjustment for CRC deaths diagnosed more than two years after the last SG invitation and invitations in the CG. The rate ratio for participation was 0.57 after further adjustment for nonadherence in the SG and participation in the CG.

“Our study highlights the importance of taking part in colorectal cancer screening, and shows that it can actually save lives,” Blom said in a statement.

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