Evidence-based cancer screening guidelines, which are an important decision-making tool for guiding cancer screening practices, only recommend screening when existing evidence has shown the benefits of a specific test to outweigh its harms at a reasonable cost for specific groups in the population. Accordingly, screening that occurs outside of these recommendations can, by definition, be classified as a form of low-value care. However, individualised approaches to screening – which have notably grown in popularity – provide alternative frameworks by which to evaluate the value of cancer screening. In the case of older adults, these alternative approaches suggest that those in good overall health with a sufficient life expectancy may still benefit from specific types of screening. In this presentation, we will outline existing debates on cancer screening with a focus on what to do among older adults and discuss the results of our population-based research on cancer screening in Switzerland.

Speakers:

Frerik Smit, MPH MA, Population Health Laboratory (#PopHealthLab), University of Fribourg, Switzerland; Swiss School of Public Health, Zurich, Switzerland. Frerik Smit is a PhD student in epidemiology and research assistant at the Population Health Laboratory (#PopHealthLab), University of Fribourg and the Swiss School of Public Health.

Professor Arnaud Chiolero, MD PhD, Population Health Laboratory (#PopHealthLab), University of Fribourg, Switzerland; Swiss School of Public Health, Zurich, Switzerland. Arnaud Chiolero is Professor of population health at the University of Fribourg, director of the Population Health Laboratory (#PopHealthLab), and co-director of the Swiss School of Public Health.