Complain about a product or service

Mail and Electronic Reminders May Increase Colon Cancer Screening

Reminders to physicians produce modest boost in tests

February 23, 2009

Colon Cancer • Mail and Electronic Reminders May Increase Colon Cancer Screening • New Virtual Reality Technology Can Screen for Colon Cancer • The Pepperoni Pizza Hypothesis • Follow-Up Care Lacking for Many Colorectal Cancer Survivors • Colorectal Cancer Screening Rate 50 Percent or Less • Chemo Benefits in Doubt for Early-Stage Colon Cancer Patients • Doctors Over-Prescribing Colonoscopies, Study Finds • Just One Colonoscopy Effective In Reducing Cancer Deaths • Colon Cancer Risk Often Has Family Links • Chemo Pump Aids in Fight Against Colon Cancer • Virtual Colonoscopy Reveals Diseases Outside Colon • Aspirin and Colon Cancer • Healthy Diet May Overcome Family Risk

Here's a note for doctors and patients alike: people who get reminders — either through email or snail-mail — are more likely to be screened for colon cancer than those who don't.

And, according to a report in the February 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, electronic reminders to physicians appear to increase screening among patients with more frequent primary care visits.

Colorectal cancer is the secondary leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Screening programs involving fecal occult blood testing, flexible sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy lower the incidence of colorectal cancer by removing precancerous adenomas, or tumors, detect cancers at more curable early stages and reduce colorectal cancer mortality.

Although national guidelines suggest that average-risk adults age 50 and older should be screened for colorectal cancer, only 60 percent report up-to-date testing.

Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates and Harvard Medical School studied screening rates and tumor detection for about 22,000 patients, age 50 to 80, of 110 physicians from April 2006 to June 2007.

Fifty-five doctors were randomly assigned to receive electronic reminders during office visits with patients overdue for screening. Additionally, nearly 11,00 patients were randomly assigned to receive mailings containing an educational pamphlet, a fecal occult blood test kit and instructions for direct scheduling of flexible sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy.

Screening rates and detection of tumors were noted 15 months after the start of the intervention.

Screening rates for patients who received mailings were higher than for those who did not by a ratio of 44 percent to 38.1 percent. The mailings were more effective among older patients: patients age 50 to 59 experienced a 3.7 percent increase, patients age 60 to 69 had a 7.3 percent increase and patients age 70 to 80 experienced a 10.1 percent increase in screening rates.

While patients of physicians receiving electronic reminders had screening rates similar to patients of physicians who did not receive reminders electronic reminders tended to increase screening rates among patients with three or more primary care visits.

"Detection of adenomas tended to increase with patient mailings and physician reminders," the authors write, but these increases were not statistically significant.

Patient mailings produced modest increases in rates of colorectal cancer screening, whereas electronic physician reminders tended to promote screening only among patients who have more frequent primary care visits," they conclude. “These complementary approaches have the potential to promote the overarching goal of widespread screening to reduce the incidence, morbidity and mortality of colorectal cancer.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Share		Follow us on Twitter.