Screening for colorectal cancer: random comparison of guaiac and immunochemical faecal occult blood testing at different cut-off levels

Immunochemical faecal occult blood testing (FIT) provides quantitative test results, which allows optimisation of the cut-off value for follow-up colonoscopy. We conducted a randomised population-based trial to determine test characteristics of FIT (OC-Sensor micro, Eiken, Japan) screening at different cut-off levels and compare these with guaiac-based faecal occult blood test (gFOBT) screening in an average risk population. A representative sample of the Dutch population (n=10 011), aged 50–74 years, was 1 : 1 randomised before invitation to gFOBT and FIT screening. Colonoscopy was offered to screenees with a positive gFOBT or FIT (cut-off 50 ng haemoglobin/ml). When varying the cut-off level between 50 and 200 ng ml−1, the positivity rate of FIT ranged between 8.1% (95% CI: 7.2–9.1%) and 3.5% (95% CI: 2.9–4.2%), the detection rate of advanced neoplasia ranged between 3.2% (95% CI: 2.6–3.9%) and 2.1% (95% CI: 1.6–2.6%), and the specificity ranged between 95.5% (95% CI: 94.5–96.3%) and 98.8% (95% CI: 98.4–99.0%). At a cut-off value of 75 ng ml−1, the detection rate was two times higher than with gFOBT screening (gFOBT: 1.2%; FIT: 2.5%; P<0.001), whereas the number needed to scope (NNscope) to find one screenee with advanced neoplasia was similar (2.2 vs 1.9; P=0.69). Immunochemical faecal occult blood testing is considerably more effective than gFOBT screening within the range of tested cut-off values. From our experience, a cut-off value of 75 ng ml−1 provided an adequate positivity rate and an acceptable trade-off between detection rate and NNscope

What creates good experiences for EmOC clients in public health facilities in Ethiopia?

Objective: To describe aspects that create positive experiences for emergency obstetric care (EmOC) clients in public health facilities in Ethiopia.Design: A qualitative contextual descriptive phenomenological design was used in this study.Subjects and setting: In-depth interviews were conducted with women who had complications during childbirth and received EmOC in three hospitals in Addis Ababa.Outcome measures: Content analysis was used to analyse data as it complies with the phenomenological data analysis. The data were analysed using the Atlas ti version 6.2 qualitative data analysis software.Results: Care that is life-saving, safe, timely, responsive and given in a clean environment, where the service carers show humility, respect, equal treatment and encouragement in an effort to meet the clients’ needs and expectations, creates a good experience.Conclusion: Clients’ experiences during the provision of EmOC influence their future decisions on whether to seek care or not. The findings of the study along with the developed guidelines will assist in the improvement of the provision and utilisation of EmOC at public health facilities in Ethiopia

ModFetch: A modular system for automating queries to relational databases

Computer Science