Race and colorectal cancer screening compliance among persons with a family history of (any) cancer

 Blogger's Note: 'any' type of cancer is not detailed (generalized into 1 category - Y vs. N))

open access

- We hypothesized that CRC awareness should be higher among families with any history of cancer, not just CRC.
-  We are not aware of any other study that has examined the association of a family history of any cancer with CRC screening for a direct comparison to our study.

AIM: To determine compliance to colorectal cancer (CRC) screening guidelines among persons with a family history of any type of cancer and investigate racial differences in screening compliance.

 Core  tip:
It  is  unclear  whether  suboptimal  screening  contributes  to  the  increased  risk  of  cancer  within  families.  We  evaluated  compliance  with  colon  cancer
screening guidelines among adults in the United States.
Our study suggested that adults with a family history of  any cancer had higher screening rates, but the  smallest  increase  was  noted  among  blacks.
Overall,  screening  was  lower  among  blacks  and  Hispanics  to  such  an  extent  that  screening  among  those  with  a  family  member  with  cancer  was  not  higher  than  screening  among  whites  without  a  family  member  with  cancer.
There is a particular need to improve screening among  high risk blacks.