Although anyone at any age can develop colon cancer, it is important to note that 25 percent of new diagnoses of colon cancer occur in individuals between the ages of 75 and 84. The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommends colon cancer screenings for adults between the ages of 50 and 75, but with Americans living longer and healthier, there are many Americans above the age of 75 who could benefit from a colon cancer screening.
Carrie N. Klabunde, Ph.D., of the Office of Disease Prevention National Institutes of Health in Rockville, Maryland, was lead author of a study regarding completion of colon cancer testing and follow up testing among the elderly. Dr. Klabunde and her research team looked at records from almost 850,000 patients from 3 integrated health systems that are part of the Population-Based Research Optimizing Screening Through Personalized Regimens (PROSPR) consortium. The patients were between the ages of 65 and 89.
The study focused on two basic questions:
- What proportion of patients were up-to-date on recommended colon cancer screenings?
- For those patients who chose fecal blood test screening, what was the likelihood of them getting a follow-up colonoscopy in the next three months after a positive result?
The team also compared whether the patient’s age or the presence of other medical conditions has a more significant influence on a patient’s likelihood of getting a colonoscopy.
Dr. Klabunde and her team found that age had a greater influence on colon screening in the elderly than the presence of other medical conditions. The study showed that 72 percent of patients between 65 and 89 years of age were current with their recommended colon screenings, but only 65 percent of patients who chose fecal occult blood testing and had a positive result chose to have a colonoscopy within three months (Source: Oncology Nurse Advisor).
This study was instrumental in showing that physicians in the research data are adhering to age-focused guidelines, but doctors and patients could benefit from tools to help make decisions regarding screening tests for elderly patients. The authors concluded the study by saying, “There are many opportunities for improvement in screening completion among the elderly. Primary care practices need to develop and integrate systems to support individualized as opposed to age-based decision making, including risk assessment tools that consider age and comorbidity in estimates of benefits and harms. More research is needed to understand facilitators of and barriers to completing CRC screening, including timely follow-up of abnormal tests [results], in the elderly.”