title: Colorectal cancer screening among the medically underserved.
abstract: Prevalence of physician recommendation and patient completion of colorectal cancer screening was investigated among Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) serving low-income neighborhoods in Chicago. Medical records of 3,416 patients receiving primary care services at 1 of 31 FQHCs were randomly chosen for review. In all, 642 patients were identified by age and family history as eligible for colorectal cancer screening and included in this study. Patient demographic information and colorectal cancer screening history were collected. The physician screening recommendation rate was 9.2% (n=59); 7.0% (n=45) of patients were determined to have been appropriately screened for colorectal cancer, primarily by Fecal Occult Blood Test (94.1%, n=43). Among patients who received a recommendation from their physician, 76.2% had completed a screening test. Older patients were more likely than their younger counterparts to have received a recommendation from their physician (p<.05) and to have been screened (p<.01). Organizational interventions are needed to support physicians in medically underserved areas and to promote recommended screening practices.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Healthcare Studies, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, USA. mswolf@northwestern.edu
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Satterlee
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Calhoun
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Skripkauskas
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fulwiler
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Diamond-Shapiro
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Alvarez
authors.forename: Mickey
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eder
authors.forename: Padmanabhan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mukundan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002641:Chicago; D003113:Colonoscopy; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003151:Community Health Centers; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009780:Occult Blood; D011204:Poverty Areas; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012017:Referral and Consultation