Milestone dates 'boost screening'

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People are more likely to show up for cancer screening close to birthdays or other annual milestones such as Christmas, research suggests.

A Norwegian team suggests careful timing of invitations could maximise the number of people who show up for potentially life-saving checks.

The British Medical Journal findings were based on attendance at a bowel cancer screening programme.

Cancer experts said they would see if the study had any lessons for the UK.

Rubbing it in by actively pointing out 'you are getting older' may easily have the opposite effect Dr Geir HoffCancer Registry of Norway

Previous research has suggested some people are put off accepting invitations for checks by anxiety, or lack of knowledge about the test's risks and benefits.

The researchers, from the Cancer Registry of Norway, sent out screening appointments to 20,780 men and women aged 50-64, and 12,960 turned up for their appointment.

The researchers found that attendance rates were significantly higher in December (72.3%) compared with the rest of the year (64.2%).

Similarly, attendance rates were higher for people who had either received their invitation letter in the week of their birthday, or whose appointment was one to two weeks after their birthday.

Thoughts of ageing

The researchers suggest that people are more conscious of ageing - and its effects - around the time of annual milestones such as birthdays and Christmas.

However, researcher Dr Geir Hoff warned that any attempt to capitalise by synchronising appointment invitations to such days would have to be handled carefully.

He said: "Rubbing it in by actively pointing out 'you are getting older' may easily have the opposite effect."

Catherine Davison, of NHS Cancer Screening Programmes, said the research was interesting but did not reflect the UK experience. The theory that people accept screening invitations near Christmas is interesting but it could be impractical to deliver all the invitations in December Ed YongCancer Research UK She said: "Women seem reluctant to attend for either breast or cervical screening over the Christmas period. As far as I know there has been no work done on whether they attend around their birthdays.

"Bowel cancer screening is different as it is done at home.

"However, we will evaluate this study and see if it has any lessons for us as we're always looking for ways to improve our uptake."

Ed Yong, of the charity Cancer Research UK, stressed that no comparison could be made between bowel screening in Norway, which involves an invasive procedure, and in the UK, which involves a simple check that can be carried out at home.

He said: "The theory that people accept screening invitations near Christmas is interesting but it could be impractical to deliver all the invitations in December.

"According to the study, the number of people turning up for screening within two weeks of their birthday was only just over 3% more than people who were screened at random times so it doesn't seem practical to re-organise screening programmes on this basis."