Performance measurement of oral cancer and pre-cancer screening studies

In order to gain an idea of the kind of results that screening and pilot programmes for oral cancer and precancer are producing, a review of these studies and a meta-analysis of their findings was undertaken.The studies analysed were conducted in varied circumstances regarding screening strategy used, populations involved, prevalence of disease in those populations, personnel undertaking screening, and their experience and training.In order to derive average numerical values for screening performance, a meta-analysis of the probabilities of screeners correctly identifying those with and without relevant target lesions, not known to have been used previously in the field of oral health was adopted.Despite the heterogeneity among studies, the ability of the screeners to discriminate between those with relevant lesions and those without appeared to be good in most instances. However, among patients referred for secondary care the uptake of available services was shown to vary enormously.