Colorectal cancer screening among men and women in the United States.
BACKGROUND
A few previous studies have shown that men were more likely than women to be screened for colorectal cancer (CRC).


METHODS
The 2000 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) was administered to 32,374 adults > or = 18 years of age. Participants were asked if they ever had a sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy and if they ever had a home fecal occult blood test (FOBT). Men and women > or = 50 years were eligible for analysis. Participants were considered to be current in testing if they reported sigmoidoscopy in the last 5 years, colonoscopy in the last 10 years, or home FOBT in the last 1 year.


RESULTS
Overall, 62.9% of adults had ever had CRC testing, and 37.1% were current for testing. Compared to older men, a greater proportion of older women were not current for testing (62.6% for women vs. 56.7% for men > 75 years). In multivariate analysis, women were not less likely than men to be current in CRC testing (OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.88-1.08). When compared with white women, black women were less likely to be current for CRC screening (OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.65-0.95).


CONCLUSIONS
CRC screening is underused. Targeting interventions to improve CRC screening for all appropriate patients will be important.
Peterson
Neeraja B
NB
Center for Health Services Research, Division of General Medicine and Public Health, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee 37232-8300, USA. neeraja.peterson@vanderbilt.edu
Murff
Harvey J
HJ
Ness
Reid M
RM
Dittus
Robert S
RS
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003113:Colonoscopy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009780:Occult Blood; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012737:Sex Factors; D012812:Sigmoidoscopy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology