Adherence to Screening Colonoscopy: Can We Get Our Recommendations to Stick?

Excerpt

Although colorectal cancer (CRC) remains the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the USA, its incidence and mortality have decreased in men and women since 1997, a reduction attributed, in part, to the increased use of CRC screening modalities [1]. Colonoscopy, regarded by most expert advisory groups as the mainstay of CRC screening, is the only modality that both detects and removes neoplastic polyps from the entire colon. Despite its efficacy, only 20–38 % of the population is adherent to CRC screening guidelines [2, 3]. Colonoscopy at present is estimated to decrease CRC-related mortality by 53 %, with further decrements expected if a greater proportion of individuals received age-appropriate screening [4]. Given limited healthcare resources, information that enables practitioners to focus interventions on populations most likely to be non-adherent to screening colonoscopy is valuable. …