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arXiv · 2206.13830

Decision Programming for optimizing the Finnish Colorectal Cancer Screening Program

Lauri Neuvonen·Mary Dillon·Eeva Vilkkumaa·Ahti Salo·Maija Jäntti·Sirpa Heinävaara
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Abstract

In Finland colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence rates have steadily increased over the last decades and as of 2017, CRC is the sixth most common cause of death. CRC is a crucial concern for the public health of Finland. We optimize the faecal immunochemical test (FIT) cut-off level for specified target populations with regard to minimization of cancer prevalence with Decision Programming, which is a novel approach to solving discrete multi-stage decision problems under uncertainty. The results present optimal cut-off levels for Finnish target groups with different colonoscopy capacity constraints. Finally, the estimated resulting cancer prevalence, the amount of required colonoscopies and third-party payer costs resulting from found strategies to the newly implemented Finnish CRC Screening Programme, which have not previously been published, are presented.

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Lauri Neuvonen, Mary Dillon, Eeva Vilkkumaa, Ahti Salo, Maija Jäntti, Sirpa Heinävaara. 2022-06-28. Decision Programming for optimizing the Finnish Colorectal Cancer Screening Program. https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.13830

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