European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF CANCER SCREENING UPTAKE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Tarik CHMITAH*, Rachidi HOUDA, Mohamed Amine SEHHAR, Karim SBAI IDRISSI, JALAL KASOUATI1 and Larbi EL BOUAITI

ABSTRACT

Cancer remains one of the most pressing public health challenges worldwide, and early screening is widely regarded as one of the most effective ways to reduce cancer-related mortality. Screening uptake, however, varies considerably from one population to another, shaped by an interplay of individual, socioeconomic, and healthcare-system factors that is still incompletely understood. This systematic review, conducted in line with PRISMA guidelines, set out to identify the individual and socioeconomic determinants of screening uptake for the three most common cancers: breast, cervical, and colorectal. PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar were searched using a PICOS-structured strategy combining terms related to individual determinants, socioeconomic determinants, screening, and cancer. Of 358 records initially retrieved, 34 studies published between 2013 and 2023 met the eligibility criteria and were analyzed narratively. Three broad categories of determinants emerged, accounting respectively for 53.3%, 26.7%, and 20% of reported factors: individual (age, sex, education, awareness), socioeconomic (status, income, regional disparities), and healthcare-related (distance to screening centers, provider recommendation, quality of care). Despite considerable heterogeneity in study design and cultural setting, these determinants appeared to carry a broadly comparable epidemiological weight across populations, suggesting they could usefully inform screening strategies tailored to under-studied contexts such as Morocco.

Keywords: Cancer screening; Determinants; Socioeconomic factors; Systematic review; Breast cancer; Colorectal cancer.