MONDAY, Nov. 13, 2006 (HealthDay News) -- Colorectal cancer screening rates appear to be on the rise, a new study of U.S. Veterans Affairs patients finds.
The study also found that colonoscopy is used less often than another screening method called fecal occult blood testing (FOBT).
FOBT monitors for hidden blood in stool. In colonoscopy, the colon is examined using a long flexible instrument called a colonoscope.
While it is the most costly and invasive screening method, colonoscopy enables doctors to examine the whole colon and to remove potentially cancerous growths in the same screening session.
Researchers at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, analyzed screening patterns for over 2,400,000 patients, ages 49 to 75, who had any form of colorectal cancer screening test at VA centers between 1998 and 2003.
Over that time period, the number of annual screenings increased from 432,778 to 1,179,764.
From 1998 to 2003, FOBT tests increased from 81.7 percent to 90.4 percent of colorectal cancer screening tests, while colonoscopy declined from 5.7 percent to 4.7 percent. The use of another test, flexible sigmoidoscopy, declined from 8.3 percent to 3.6 percent, and use of double-contrast barium enema declined from 4.1 percent to 1.3 percent.
The findings were published Monday in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.
A second study in the same issue of the journal found that U.S. veterans (ages 50 to 64) with other illnesses and reduced life expectancies may not necessarily benefit from colorectal cancer screening and may even be harmed. Despite this, these patients have high rates of colorectal cancer screening.
"In the context of colorectal cancer screening, if an individual's life expectancy is anticipated to be fewer than five years, then screening may be of little benefit," the study authors wrote.
"In our study, 52 patients died during the five-year follow-up period from non-colorectal cancer deaths, and of these patients, 71.2 percent had undergone colorectal cancer screening but had not derived any survival benefit," said a team from Duke University Medical Center and the Durham VA Medical Center in Durham, N.C. "Most of these individuals had limited life expectancy based on their health status and comorbidity score and may, therefore, have been inappropriately screened."
More information
The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about colorectal cancer screening.
