Counseling adults about their individual risk of colorectal cancer generally did not convince them to seek screening for the disease, according to a randomized controlled trial reported online October 20 in Annals of Internal Medicine.
“We did see a consistent increase over time in knowledge about CRC [colorectal cancer ] screening and the role of genetic risk, suggesting that the educational component of the intervention was successful,” said Dr. David S. Weinberg of the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia and his associates. But only 33.1% of individuals who were counseled about their risk chose to be screened for CRC, compared with 35.7% of patients who received usual care, they said.
Only a third of individuals who were counseled about their risk for colorectal cancer chose to be screened.
Screening uptake did not differ between the intervention and control groups, or within the intervention group stratified by risk level (38.1% for average-risk versus 26.9% for high-risk persons; adjusted odds ratio, 0.75; 95% confidence interval, 0.39-1.42), the researchers said. Future studies should look at whether communicating individualized risk information in a different way might be more effective, they added.
Colorectal cancer will cause an estimated 50,310 deaths in 2014, according to the American Cancer Society.
Current screening guidelines recommend that men and women aged 50 years and older undergo regular fecal occult blood tests, stool DNA tests, or flexible sigmoidoscopy in addition to double contrast barium studies, colonoscopies, and CT colonographies to screen for the disease.
The National Institutes of Health funded the study. Dr. Weinberg reported receiving other NIH grants during the study. One coauthor is a statistical consultant for the Annals of Internal Medicine. The other authors reported no conflicts of interest.