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World J Gastroenterol. Sep 21, 2026; 32(35): 119598
Published online Sep 21, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.119598
Measurement of patient satisfaction with screening colonoscopies in the Hungarian population-based screening program: A nationwide, cross-sectional survey study
Renáta Bor, Béla Vasas, Zsófia Bősze, Anna Fábián, Dániel Magyar, Mónika Szűcs, Mariann Rutka, Tibor Tóth, Emese Ivány, Flóra Szántó, Anita Bálint, Bernadett Farkas, Péter Bacsur, Klaudia Farkas, Tamás Molnár, Zoltán Szepes
Renáta Bor, Zsófia Bősze, Anna Fábián, Dániel Magyar, Mariann Rutka, Tibor Tóth, Emese Ivány, Flóra Szántó, Anita Bálint, Bernadett Farkas, Péter Bacsur, Klaudia Farkas, Tamás Molnár, Zoltán Szepes, Department of Internal Medicine, Center for Gastroenterology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical School, University of Szeged, Szeged 6725, Csongrád-Csanád, Hungary
Béla Vasas, Department of Pathology, University of Szeged, Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical School, Szeged 6725, Hungary
Mónika Szűcs, Department of Medical Physics and Medical Informatics, University of Szeged, Szent-Györgyi Albert Medical School, Szeged 6720, Hungary
Author contributions: Bor R and Szepes Z contributed to the conceptualization, methodology, and writing - original draft; Bor R contributed to data curation; Vasas B, Bősze Z, Fábián A, Rutka M, Tóth T, Ivány E, Szántó F, Bálint A, Farkas B, Bacsur P, and Farkas K contributed to investigation; Fábián A, Magyar D, and Szűcs M contributed to formal analysis; Molnár T and Szepes Z contributed to supervision; Vasas B, Bősze Z, Fábián A, Bacsur P, and Szepes Z contributed to writing - review & editing. All authors have approved the final draft submitted.
AI contribution statement: The authors used ChatGPT solely for grammar and language editing. The authors were responsible and agree to accountability for all scientific content.
Supported by the Research Grants of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office, No. 143549 (to Molnár T) and No. 134863 to (Farkas K); the New National Excellence Program of the Ministry of Human Capacities, No. EKÖP-339-SZTE (to Bacsur P); Janos Bolyai Research Grant, No. BO/00723/22 (to Bor R); and the project has received funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program Under Grant Agreement, No. 739593.
Institutional review board statement: The study protocol was approved by the Scientific Research Ethics Committee of the Hungarian Medical Research Council (ETT TUKEB Registration No. IV/609-2/2020/EKU) and endorsed by the Regional Research Ethics Committee (RKEB Registration No. 56/2020 SZTE). The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
Informed consent statement: Staff at the endoscopy units verbally informed patients about the survey’s purpose, noting that the data would be used for research and quality improvement. This was also stated in the written questionnaire. Patients were assured of anonymity and strict confidentiality, and no identifiable personal information was collected.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: The datasets generated for this study are available on request from the corresponding authors.
Corresponding author: Renáta Bor, MD, Department of Internal Medicine, Center for Gastroenterology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical School, University of Szeged, Kálvária Avenue 57, Szeged 6725, Csongrád-Csanád, Hungary.
bor.reni86@gmail.com
Received: February 2, 2026
Revised: February 26, 2026
Accepted: May 12, 2026
Published online: September 21, 2026
Processing time: 199 Days and 14.1 Hours
BACKGROUND
Patient satisfaction plays a pivotal role in ensuring sustained adherence to colonoscopy-based colorectal cancer screening programs.
AIM
To evaluate patient satisfaction following endoscopic procedures in the Hungarian population-based colorectal cancer screening program.
METHODS
Data were obtained from an anonymous, standardized self-administered questionnaire completed between January 2021 and November 2023. Most items were closed-ended, and satisfaction was measured on a 5-point scale.
RESULTS
A total of 4010 questionnaires were analyzed, with a patient-level response rate of 40.6%. Overall satisfaction with the procedure was 4.89 ± 0.42 on a 5-point scale, with 95% of respondents rating each individual assessed aspect as good (score of 4) or very good (score of 5). However, 9.96% of participants reported severe pain (scores of 1 or 2), and 24.80% reported moderate pain (a score of 3) during the examination. The sedation rate was 61.42%. Procedure-related discomfort was significantly negatively associated with male gender, age > 61 years, the use of sedation, the quality of preprocedural information provided by the endoscopist, and the perceived experience of the endoscopist and staff. Procedure-related pain, the quality of the recovery area, post-procedural information, communication skills, and the perceived competence of the endoscopy unit staff were significant determinants of overall patient satisfaction.
CONCLUSION
Positive patient feedback indicates high-quality care. Further improvements in overall satisfaction may be achieved by optimizing pain management, sedation practices, post-procedural recovery conditions, and communication between healthcare professionals and patients.
Core Tip: This large-scale survey evaluated patient satisfaction with colonoscopies performed within the Hungarian population-based colorectal cancer screening program. Analysis of 4010 questionnaires (response rate, 40.6%) showed that overall patient satisfaction with colonoscopy was very high, yet procedure-related discomfort and pain remained important challenges. Satisfaction is crucial for continued adherence to screening programs; thus, targeted quality improvements may promote sustained long-term participation. The results suggest that overall satisfaction may be further improved by optimizing pain management, sedation practices, post-procedural recovery conditions, and communication between healthcare professionals and patients.
