Evaluating health benefits and cost-effectiveness of a mass-media campaign for improving participation in the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program in Australia

Objectives: The Australian National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) offers free 2-yearly immunochemical faecal occult blood testing to individuals aged 50-74 years; national participation in 2015-2016 was 41%. In 2017, a 7-week television-led mass-media campaign to increase participation in the Australian state of Victoria was associated with a 1.31-fold increase in participation for 11 weeks. We aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness and health benefits of the 2017 campaign and scaled-up equivalent campaigns run over 4 years in Victoria and nationally.

Study design: This study used microsimulation modelling.

Methods: A comprehensive microsimulation model of colorectal cancer (CRC), Policy1-Bowel, was used to simulate three scenarios. Scenario 1 simulated the 2017 campaign in Victoria; Scenarios 2 and 3 assumed that campaigns were run three times annually from 2019 to 2022 in Victoria and Australia-wide, respectively. Total campaign costs of AUD$1million, AUD$10million, and AUD$40million were assumed for Scenarios 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The incremental effects and costs of the campaign on the NBCSP were assessed. A governmental perspective was used.

Results: All campaign scenarios were predicted to be highly cost-effective, with cost-effectiveness ratios under AUD$4,800/life-year saved. The actual 2017 campaign in Victoria is estimated to prevent 319 CRC cases and 183 deaths over the following 40 years. A 4-year campaign would prevent 1,750 CRC cases and 987 deaths if conducted in Victoria, and 8,100 cases and 4,330 deaths if conducted Australia-wide.

Conclusion: Mass-media participation campaigns could be highly cost-effective and maximise the potential life-saving impact of bowel screening. These results support ongoing investment in major bowel screening campaigns.