Pilot study: age extension of NHS Breast Screening Programme

ISRCTN ISRCTN50037017
DOI https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN50037017
ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT00890864
Secondary identifying numbers 09/H0710/2
Submission date
16/01/2009
Registration date
12/02/2009
Last edited
31/07/2012
Recruitment status
No longer recruiting
Overall study status
Completed
Condition category
Cancer
Prospectively registered
Protocol
Statistical analysis plan
Results
Individual participant data

Plain English Summary

Not provided at time of registration

Study website

Contact information

Prof Julietta Patnick
Scientific

NHS Cancer Screening Programmes
Fulwood House
Old Fulwood Road
Sheffield
S10 3TH
United Kingdom

Study information

Study designMulticentre cluster randomised study
Primary study designInterventional
Secondary study designRandomised controlled trial
Study setting(s)Other
Study typeScreening
Participant information sheet Not available in web format, please use the contact details below to request a patient information sheet
Scientific titlePilot study of the feasibility and acceptability of randomising the phasing-in of the age extension of the NHS Breast Screening Programme in England
Study hypothesisCurrently all women are invited for breast screening between the ages of 50 and 70. In 2007 the Cancer Reform Strategy announced that from 2012 the NHS Breast Screening Programme would be extended to cover women between the ages of 47 and 73. This means that all women will get two extra screening invitations in their lifetime. It also means that all women will get their first invitation before age 50. As capacity does not allow for full immediate roll out across the whole of England, the age extension will be phased-in with full coverage from 2012. Randomising this phasing-in would provide unbiased evidence on the extent to which it is beneficial to extend the age range for breast screening and whether an extra screen at younger or older ages is more worthwhile. To date there is no clear evidence on this as no trial has looked at the added value of one extra screen within an existing screening programme. This pilot study will assess the feasibility and acceptability of randomising the phasing-in of the age extension in six volunteer sites in different areas of England.

As of 29/05/2009 this record was updated to include amendments to the anticipated trial dates; the initial trial dates were as follows:
Initial anticipated start date: 01/03/2009
Initial anticipated end date: 31/03/2010
Ethics approval(s)Added 29/05/2009: Approval obtained from Ealing and West London Research Ethics Committee in March 2009 (ref: 09/H0710/2)
ConditionBreast screening
InterventionAs part of the routine breast screening process, the National Breast Screening System (NBSS) creates screening invitation batches of about 1,000 women spanning ages 50 - 70 years. In this pilot study the NBSS will create batches of about 1,000 women aged 47 - 73 years. These batches (clusters) will be randomly allocated to one of two groups, that is, to include ages 47 - 70 or ages 50 - 73 years, instead of, as now, 50 - 70 years. The randomisation will be done with equal (50/50) probability and no stratification. Study participants are the women aged 47 - 49 years and 71 - 73 years in the screening invitation batches that include their age group. There will be of the order of 100 such women in each batch and about 36,000 in total across the 6 pilot sites. Women aged 50 - 70 years will be unaffected by the randomisation process as they are in the age group already eligible for routine screening, and their invitations for screening will continue as normal. Women aged 47 - 49 years who are not invited for screening as part of the pilot study may request to be screened if they live in a pilot area. Women aged over 70 are already able to request screening every 3 years.
Intervention typeOther
Primary outcome measure1. Screening uptake among women invited for screening in the extended age groups
2. Workload associated with inviting these new age groups for screening
3. Self-referrals among women in the pilot areas aged 47 - 49 years or 71 - 73 years but who were not invited for screening

Each of the pilot sites will be studied for up to 12 months. The measurement of the primary outcomes will be ongoing from soon after the start of the study. A final analysis and interpretation of the data will be conducted at the end of the study period.
Secondary outcome measuresNo secondary outcome measures
Overall study start date01/05/2009
Overall study end date31/05/2010

Eligibility

Participant type(s)Patient
Age groupAdult
SexFemale
Target number of participants36,000
Participant inclusion criteriaStudy participants will be women living in one of the six pilot areas aged 47 - 49 years or 71 - 73 years and in a screening invitation batch that includes their age group.
Participant exclusion criteriaDoes not comply with inclusion criteria
Recruitment start date01/05/2009
Recruitment end date31/05/2010

Locations

Countries of recruitment

  • England
  • United Kingdom

Study participating centre

NHS Cancer Screening Programmes
Sheffield
S10 3TH
United Kingdom

Sponsor information

University of Oxford (UK)
University/education

c/o Heather House
Clinical Trials and Research Governance
Manor House
John Radcliffe Hospital
Headington
Oxford
OX3 9DZ
England
United Kingdom

Website http://www.ox.ac.uk/
ROR logo "ROR" https://ror.org/052gg0110

Funders

Funder type

Government

NHS Breast Screening Programme National Office (UK)

No information available

Results and Publications

Intention to publish date
Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to shareNo
IPD sharing plan summaryNot provided at time of registration
Publication and dissemination planNot provided at time of registration
IPD sharing plan

Study outputs

Output type Details Date created Date added Peer reviewed? Patient-facing?
Results article results 01/01/2011 Yes No