Having a personal health care provider and receipt of colorectal cancer testing.
OBJECTIVE
We wanted to assess the relationship between having a personal health care provider and receiving colorectal cancer testing.


METHODS
Self-reported data were obtained from the United States 2004 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Men and women aged 50 years and older were included, and associations of having a personal health care provider, age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, income, and health insurance status with colorectal cancer testing were examined. Multiple logistic regression was performed on a final sample of 120,221 individuals.


RESULTS
Having at least 1 personal health care provider significantly predicted up-to-date colorectal cancer testing in both the univariate (odds ratio [OR]=3.96; 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.56-4.41) and multiple regression models (OR = 2.91; 95% CI 2.58-3.28). Age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, income, and health insurance were also significantly associated with up-to-date colorectal cancer testing.


CONCLUSIONS
Having a personal health care provider was associated with up-to-date colorectal cancer testing. Efforts to increase and support the primary care workforce are needed to improve up-to-date colorectal cancer screening rates.
Cardarelli
Roberto
R
University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, Primary Care Research Institute, Fort Worth, Texas 76107, USA. rcardare@hsc.unt.edu
Thomas
Jennifer E
JE
D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000191:economics / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D019458:Insurance Coverage; D007348:Insurance, Health; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D014481:United States