Table 1.

Overview of differences in design of three large FOBT screening trials. All three trials used 6-slide Hemoccult II FOBT.

	Minnesota	Nottingham	Funen
Period	1975-1992*	1981-1995	1985-2002
Trial Population	Volunteers	General Population	General Population
Age at entry	50-80 years	45-75 years	45-75 years
Interval	1 year or 2 years	2 years	2 years
Rounds	11 in yearly group	3-6†	9#
Invitation schedule	All were re-invited	Only attending individuals re-invited. From 1990 all were re-invited	Only attending individuals were re-invited
Test	Unrehydrated, later rehydrated	Unrehydrated	Unrehydrated
Dietary restrictions	Yes	No	Yes
Follow-up	Mainly Colonoscopy	4 or less slides positive: re-test and eventually colonoscopy 5 or more positive: mainly colonoscopy	Colonoscopy
		5 or more positive: mainly colonoscopy

FOBT: Fecal Occult Blood Test

^*Screening was not performed in the period 1982-1986

^†Results of first 5 rounds used

^#Results of first 8 rounds used