Organization and Evaluation of Performance Indicators of a Breast Cancer Screening Program in Meknes-Tafilalt Region, Morocco

Abstract

<br /> <strong><span style="font-size: small;">Objective: </span></strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">The benefits of screening and early detection of breast cancer, including reduced morbidity and mortality, have been well-reported in the literature. In 2011, a breast cancer screening program was launched in Meknes-Tafilalt </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">region of Morocco. The aim of this study was to evaluate the early performance indicators of this program. </span></span><strong><span style="font-size: small;">Materials and Methods: </span></strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">This retrospective evaluative study was conducted between April 2012 and December 2014, in </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Meknes-Tafilalt region of Morocco. Several performance indicators of the breast cancer screening program were </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">calculated: the compliance rate, the positivity rate, the referral rate, the cancer detection rate and the organizational indicators. </span></span><strong><span style="font-size: small;">Results: </span></strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">During 2012-2014, a total of 184,951 women participated in the breast cancer screening program. The compliance rate was 26%, the positive rate was 3.3%, the referral rate was 36.7%, and the cancer detection rate was 1.2 per 1,000 women. The median time between the date of clinical breast examination and the date of biopsy (or cyto-puncture) was 36 days. The median time between the date of positive mammography and the date of biopsy (or </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">cyto-puncture) was 6 days. The median time between the date of clinical breast examination and the date of the first </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">received treatment was 61 days. </span></span><strong><span style="font-size: small;">Conclusions: </span></strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">The program needs better monitoring, as well as implementation of quality assurance tools to improve performance in our country. </span></span>