Participation rate is one of the major factors influencing the effectiveness of screening programs. Participation rates in CRC screening, including primary colonoscopy programs, remain suboptimal. It is known that one of the strongest predictors of CRC screening participation rate is a physician, especially primary care physician (PCP), recommendation. Engaging a PCP tends to improve participation rate in organized and opportunistic cancer screening programs.
To our best knowledge there are no randomized controlled trials, dedicated specifically to assess the effect of physician's counseling on participation rate in primary colonoscopy CRC screening programs. There is also no data on the impact of physician's counseling on patient's decision to choose unsedated (not in sedation) or sedated colonoscopy.
In this study we aimed to quantitatively estimate the impact of a PCP's counseling on screening participation rate and utilization of sedation in the opportunistic primary CRC screening program when compared to the effect obtained by using a standardized information leaflet only.
