Industrial cancer education and screening for 19,000 Cannon Mills employees.

Abstract A cancer education and screening program was conducted among 19,000 Cannon Mills workers in North Carolina. Lectures were presented on company time for all employees within each of the three 8-hr shifts. This group education contained information on six cancer types felt to be amenable to screening and in which early detection can be expected to increase survival: breast, cervix, colon, bladder, prostate and oral cavity. After the lectures, employees were offered a screening examination. Thirteen thousand employees accepted and were screened between February 1, 1976 and January 31, 1978. The cost of screening was $10.00 per person. Thirty-three asymptomatic patients were discovered to have cancer with the help of screening. The compliance among those who had positive findings, and who were advised to see their M.D.'s was 90% among female and 81% among male employees. Rigorous follow-up of the entire Cannon Mills population (20,000 employees) to account for all patients with cancer who were diagnosed during the period February 1, 1976 through January 31, 1978 was extended until September 30, 1979. The cancer prevalence amounted to 102 patients or 5/1000 employees within the 2 yr.