Study: Some Women Prefer Female Endoscopist for Colorectal Cancer Screening

Primary care doctors could increase the number of women who are screened for colorectal cancer by offering them the choice of a female endoscopist, according to researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

In a survey of 438 women over the age of 50 conducted they were awaiting mammograms for breast cancer at four sites in and around Boston, the researchers found that just over half had reported ever having had a sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy screening for colorectal cancer.

Of these, 93 percent did so at the recommendation of their primary care doctor, according to the researchers.

"Women who preferred a female endoscopist were less likely to have been screened," the researchers reported in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Since these women overwhelmingly cited the recommendation of their primary care provider as the reason for having an endoscopy, the researchers recommended that "whenever possible primary care providers should offer women the choice of a female endoscopist for colorectal cancer screening."

Other sources: American Journal of Gastroenterology