Disability and participation in breast and bowel cancer screening in England: a large prospective study

Journal article

Background There is limited information about participation in organised population-wide screening programmes by people with disabilities. Methods Data from the National Health Service routine screening programmes in England were linked to information on disability reported by Million Women Study cohort participants. Results Of 473,185 women offered routine breast or bowel cancer screening, 23% reported some disability. Women with disabilities were less likely than other women to participate in breast cancer screening (RR=0.64, 95% CI: 0.62-0.65) and in bowel cancer screening (RR=0.75, 0.73-0.76). Difficulties with self-care or vision were associated with the greatest reduction in screening participation. Conclusion Participation in routine cancer screening programmes in England is reduced in people with disabilities and participation varies by type of disability.

Authors: Floud, S; Barnes, I; Verfürden, M; Kuper, H; Gathani, T

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Cancer Research UK
• Journal: British Journal of Cancer
• Volume: 117
• Pages: 1711–1714
• Publication date: 2017-10-03
• Acceptance date: 2017-07-24
• DOI: 10.1038/bjc.2017.331
• EISSN: 1532-1827
• ISSN: 0007-0920