The Study of the Prevention of Anal Cancer (SPANC): design and methods of a three-year prospective cohort study

BMC Public Health

Table 1 Study visit schedule outlining procedures and assessments performed at each visit

	Baseline	Follow-up (+/− 3 months)
Visit number	1	2	3	4	5	6
Study months	0	6	12	24	36	38
*Interview process*
Informed consent	X
Baseline interview	X
Follow up Interview		X	X	X	X
Psychological interview	X	X	X	X	X
*Clinical process*
Venepuncture	X		X	X	X
Digital ano-rectal exam	X	X	X	X	X
Anal swab	X	X	X	X	X
Urine sample & throat swab¹	X		¶	¶	¶
High resolution anoscopy & biopsy	X	X	X	X	X
Discussion of all study results and anal cancer risk						x
*Laboratory process*
HIV testing²	X		¶	¶	¶
Syphilis testing ¹	X		¶	¶	¶
HPV PCR	X	X	X	X	X
Anal cytology	X	X	X	X	X
Histology³	X	X	X	X	X
Gonorrhoea and chlamydia testing¹	X		¶	¶	¶

¹Syphilis, anal, pharyngeal and urethral gonorrhoea, and anal and urethral chlamydia testing: participants who reported sexual activity since the last annual visit undergo anal STI testing at the follow up visit (as indicated by ¶). ²HIV testing: only HIV-negative participants. Follow up testing is performed in HIV-negative men who report sexual activity since the last HIV test (as indicated by ¶). ³Biopsy and histology: participants with lesions seen at high resolution anoscopy undergo biopsy for further histological assessment.

ISSN: 1471-2458