A Comparative Environmental Impact Analysis of Screening Tests for Colorectal Cancer.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Healthcare is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening is one of the most widely used healthcare services in the US, indicated for approximately 134 million adults. Recommended screening options include fecal immunochemical tests (FITs) every year, CT colonographies (CTCs) every 5 years, or colonoscopies every 10 years. We compared the environmental impacts of these tests and identified opportunities for impact reduction.

Methods

We conducted a comparative life cycle assessment of three CRC screening strategies at the University of California, San Francisco. We performed on site audits to document the materials and energy used for each screening test. We used the ReCiPe 2016 method to estimate the environmental impa

SUBMITTER: Rudrapatna VA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11759591 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature