Routine check-ups boost cancer screening rates

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who regularly go to their primary care doctor for routine check ups are more apt to undergo recommended colorectal, breast and prostate cancer screening tests, according to research released this week.

Dr. Joshua J. Fenton from the University of California, Davis, Sacramento and colleagues found a relationship between well visits and cancer screening by analyzing data from 64,288 adults enrolled in the Group Health Cooperative in Washington between 2002 and 2003.

A total of 39,475 adults were eligible for colorectal screening, 31,379 women were eligible for screening mammography and 28,483 men were eligible for prostate cancer screening.

The rate of colon cancer screening was much higher among adults who received at least one preventive health exam during the study period compared with adults who did not receive a preventive health exam (57 percent vs 17 percent, respectively).

The same was true for breast cancer screening (74 percent vs 56 percent) and prostate cancer screening (59 percent vs 21 percent).

"The associations were particularly strong for colorectal cancer and prostate cancer, for which the health plan provides no centralized screening program," as it does for mammography, the authors note in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

It's been shown previously that doctors are more apt to bring up the subject of cancer screening with their patients during well visits than during other types of visits. It's also been shown that people who are encouraged to undergo screening by their doctor often heed that advice.

The current study, Fenton and colleagues conclude, "provides timely confirmation and quantification of the association between preventive health exams and completion of colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and prostate cancer testing."

SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, March 26, 2007