Comments to the article by O. Yu. Rebrova and co-authors «Screening at the first stage of periodical health checkup: a systematic review of long-term results»

Abstract

The aim – to review and analyze the data on the long-term population-based efficiency of the screening procedures and other measures implemented according to Stage 1 periodical health checkup in the Russian Federation (by Order №36ан of 2015).Material and methods. This systematic search was carried out independently by two authors who used four databases: Scientific electronic Library, Cochrane Library, Medline/PubMed, and USPSTF. They looked into systematic reviews quoted by these sources. The criteria of the screening efficacy were the total / specific mortality and disability. The quality of the systematic reviews was assessed by the two authors using the international AMSTAR questionnaire.Results. According to the specific mortality rate, only the fecal occult blood test and the abdominal aorta ultrasonography are found to be efficient as screening methods for certain age and gender groups. The methodological quality of the studied reviews is high or medium to high. As follows from these high quality studies, the efficacy of mammography in female populations remains to be proven.

Keywords

• periodical health check
• screening
• evidence
• efficacy
• mortality
• systematic review