Doctors Urged to Recommend More Colorectal Cancer Screenings

One of the top ten reasons that patients do not get screened for colorectal cancer is because their doctor does not recommend it, according to researchers at the Indiana University-Purdue University School of Nursing.

"As our studies demonstrate, a doctor's recommendation is critical to improving screening rates for colorectal cancer," said Susan Rawl, IU School of Nursing Assistant Professor. "If we can find out what the barriers are to physicians recommending and patients actually getting these screenings, then we should be able to dramatically increase the number of people being screened, and thus, save lives."

In one study, researchers in collaboration with Eli Lilly looked at 200 patients with average risk and found that patients were five to seven times more likely to be screened if their doctor recommended it.

Other reasons why people neglected to get screened were fear of the results, not having time, and a lack of symptoms. A second study in collaboration with the Walther Cancer Institute found similar results with 250 immediate family members of colorectal cancer patient survivors.

Researchers found that a lack of doctor recommendation was the top reason why patients did not get screened, even with the heightened risk factor of a family member with the disease. Other reasons included embarrassment, lack of knowledge about the procedure, and fear of pain.

Researchers are now conducting a major study to see why more physicians are not recommending more colorectal screenings for their patients.

Other sources: Indiana University