Study: Family Doctors Could Help Promote Colorectal Cancer Screening

Encouragement from the family doctor could persuade more relatives of colorectal cancer patients to be screened for the disease themselves, according to a new report in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Close relatives — brothers, sisters or children — of colorectal cancer patients have a higher risk of developing the disease, and guidelines call for close relatives of colorectal cancer patients to be screened earlier than the age of 50 recommended for the general population.

In this study, researchers from Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital interviewed 368 relatives of colorectal cancer patients, asking if they had been screened for the disease.

Almost two-thirds of the relatives -- 236 -- had taken either a colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy or fecal occult blood test, but 132 had not been screened.

“The encouragement of physicians and lack of perceived barriers to colonoscopy demonstrated the strongest associations with screening,” researcher Lisa Madlensky said.

Unscreened relatives tended to see greater barriers to getting screened, and cited fear, concern about discomfort during the procedure, and an absence of symptoms as reasons for not scheduling a screening, Madlensky said.

Advice from a relative did not carry much weight in persuading relatives to go to a screening. Half of the people in the unscreened group had been urged by relatives to be tested, but still chose not to.

Other sources: American Journal of Preventive Medicine