Effect of risk-based screening for upper gastrointestinal cancers: a multi-center real-world study

To evaluate the feasibility, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of risk-based sequential screening for upper gastrointestinal (UGI) cancer via questionnaire-based quantitative models. We applied the risk-based screening strategy to the ongoing government-administered screening project in two areas (Longde and Litong) of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China. Through epidemiological investigation, participants assessed as high-risk were invited for endoscopic screening. A total of 9492 participants were enroled and completed questionnaire-based assessment, and 2552 (26.89%) participants were evaluated as high-risk. Among the high-risk subjects, 1198 (46.94%) individuals further received endoscopic examination. The detection rate of risk-based screening was 2.28 times as high as that of historical data of universal screening (p = 0.002) (Longde: 2.15% vs. 0.99%; Litong: 1.18% vs. 0.38%), with a similar early detection rate of ~60–70%. The average cost for detecting one case and the average cost for detecting one early case were 30.76% lower (Longde: $12,919 vs. $16,783; Litong: $21,836 vs. $45,512) and 28.99% lower (Longde: $20,993 vs. $24,475; Litong: $30,570 vs. $75,854), respectively, than those for universal screening. This real-world, multi-centre study demonstrates that risk-based sequential screening is feasible and cost-effective in detecting UGI cancers, and is expected to be applied in other areas.