An updated chapter of the International Encyclopedia of Public Health has been published. Co-authored Anton Barchuk, director of EUSP’s Institute for Interdisciplinary Medical Research, the chapter is devoted to cancer screening.
Screening is the detection of cancer cases in people without complaints or symptoms. Screening programs work at the population level, but before implementing a program, it is necessary to prove its effectiveness, demonstrate a favorable balance of benefit and harm (the benefits of screening must exceed the harms) and be cost-effectiveness. The main indicator of effectiveness is a reduction of cancer mortality. The program must have clear criteria and mandatory quality control of the results. Evidence of the effectiveness of screening is available for several cancers—cervical cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer and lung cancer.
For more information on cancer screening in Russian, see the article "Cancer Screening and Mortality" by Anton Barchuk and colleagues. The content of this publication overlaps with the previous version of the chapter on screening in the International Encyclopedia of Public Health.
Фото: Unsplash