Socioeconomic Disparities in Cancer Screening: Organized versus Opportunistic.

Abstract

There are two types of cancer screening—organized and opportunistic. In organized screening, invitations to screening are issued from the government or public sector. However, opportunistic screening depends on requests from individuals or their health advisor.1) In Korea, both organized and opportunistic cancer screening programs are widely available. In 1999, Korea launched the National Cancer Screening Program (NCSP), a nationally organized cancer screening program, which has been expanding to cover the whole population.2) Since the introduction of NCSP, cancer screening rates in Korea have increased steadily.3) Although NCSP is managed and implemented with an evidence-based guideline and also monitors the quality of screening services in a regular basis, some Korean people show lower levels of trust and satisfaction for NCSP compared to opportunistic screening programs. 4) Because opportunistic screening is more expensive and less efficient, public awareness on benefits of NCSP should be improved to encourage to get screened through NCSP.