Adding Life to Years

Colorectal cancer is the third-most-common cancer diagnosed in men and women and the second-leading cause of death from cancer.

So why don’t more people get screened for it?

Research presented at the Nevada Public Health Association annual meeting, held this week at the University of Nevada, Reno, sheds some light.

The study was done by faculty and research assistants from the Sanford Center for Aging and University of Nevada School of Medicine.

Using data from the 1997–2006 Nevada behavioral risk factor surveillance system (BFRSS), the researchers  found that among elders 50 and older who had ever had a colonoscopy/sigmoidoscopy or a fecal occult blood test, those LEAST likely to undergo one or the other tests were:

• age 50 to 59
• rural residents
• people with lower incomes
• people with lesser education
• those who described themselves as healthy

The findings were presented by Sreekanth Donepudi, M.D., M.P.H., geriatrics fellow of University Of Nevada School Of Medicine; and Dominique Joseph, M.P.H., research assistant with the Sanford center, on behalf of their co-investigators Wei Yang, M.D., M.P.H., of the UNR School Of Public Health; and Diane Chau, M.D., of the University of Nevada School Of Medicine.

Tags: Diane Chau, Dominique Joseph, NPHA, Sanford Center for Aging, Sreekanth Donepudi, University of Nevada School of Medicine, Wei Yang

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