Assessing Individual Risk for High-Risk Early Colorectal Neoplasm for Pre-Selection of Screening in Shanghai, China: A Population-Based Nested Case–Control Study

OBJECTIVE: To identify people with high-risk early colorectal neoplasm is highly desirable for pre-selection in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening in low-resource countries. We aim to build and validate a risk-based model so as to improve compliance and increase the benefits of screening. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Using data from the Shanghai CRC screening cohort, we conducted a population-based nested case–control study to build a risk-based model. Cases of early colorectal neoplasm were extracted as colorectal adenomas and stage 0-I CRC. Each case was matched with five individuals without neoplasm (controls) by the screening site and year of enrollment. Cases and controls were then randomly divided into two groups, with two thirds for building the risk prediction model and the other one third for model validation. Known risk factors were included for risk prediction models using logistic regressions. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and Hosmer–Lemeshow chi-square statistics were used to evaluate model discrimination and calibration. The predicted individual risk probability was calculated under the risk regression equation. RESULTS: The model incorporating age, sex, family history and lifestyle factors including body mass index (BMI), smoking status, alcohol, regular moderate-to-intensity physical activity showed good calibration and discrimination. When the risk cutoff threshold was defined as 17%, the sensitivity and specificity of the model were 63.99% and 53.82%, respectively. The validation data analysis also showed well discrimination. CONCLUSION: A risk prediction model combining personal and lifestyle factors was developed and validated for high-risk early colorectal neoplasm among the Chinese population. This risk-based model could improve the pre-selection for screening and contribute a lot to efficient population-based screening in low-resource countries.