Canadians shying away from colorectal cancer screening: study

Though colorectal cancer screening has been proven to save lives, it'sbeing underused in Canada,according toa new study published in Tuesday's Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Theinvestigation found that only 17.6 per cent ofpeople hadundergone screening within their recommended time frame.

Twomain factorsunderlie the failure to maximize screening, researchers say: a lack of provincial screening programs across the country and a reluctance on the part of Canadians to discuss their bowel habits.

"Unlike breast and unlike cervical screening, where we have provincial and national campaigns — organization on a national level — this does not exist for colon cancer screening whatsoever," lead author Dr. Ryan Zarychanski of the Ottawa Health Research Institute said in an interview.

"I think that's one important fact. Another one is that this is a really uneasy part of the body to talk about. And a lot of people don't want to go to their family doctor and talk about their rectum and bleeding from their anus and their bowel habits. That's difficult to say in conversation."

An editorial by Dr. Ken Flegel, senior associate editor of the journal, concurs. Heargues that the country's death rate from colorectal cancer could be halved if a "robust and coherent" approach to early detection were put in place.

Ontario has highest screening rates

The study examined the frequency of colorectal cancer screening among 12,776 people over age 50 in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Newfoundland and Labrador, looking specifically at the linkbetween patients' contacts with a family physicianand whether they received cancer screening.

The study found that contact with a family physiciancorrelated withcolorectal cancer screening: 17.7 per centof respondents who reported having one to two contacts with a family physician in the 12 prior months also reported having had colorectal cancer screening within their recommended time frame, as compared with 8.8 per cent of those who reported no contacts.

Of the respondents who reported having more than four contacts, 20.9 per cent reported having had timely colorectal cancer screening.

"It is abundantly clear that to stay the present course of inaction will continue to cost thousands of lives." —study's authors

The Canadian Association of Gastroenterology recommends that healthy people over 50 receive a fecal bloodtest every two years or a colonoscopy every10 years.

The proportion of people who reported up-to-date colorectal cancer screening was highest in Ontario,at 20 per cent,and lowest in Newfoundland and Labrador, at 12.6 per cent, according to the study.

"The proportion of patients screened for colorectal cancer has been extraordinarily low in Canada," the study's authors write. "It is abundantly clear that to stay the present course of inaction will continue to cost thousands of lives."

The Canadian Cancer Society estimates 20,800 Canadians will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer this year and 8,700 will die from it. Caught in the early stages, colorectal cancer has a high cure rate.