FLASH: Colorectal Cancer Screening Awareness Month

March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, so it’s a good time to check that your patients are up to date on colorectal screenings. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends regular colorectal screenings for people ages 45–75 years old.

Quick Statistics from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey 2020:

69.7% – The percentage of adults aged 50 to 75 years who were up-to-date with screening by FIT, sigmoidoscopy, or colonoscopy. This percentage is comparable to data as analyzed from the 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 BRFSS.

71.6% – The percentage of adults aged 50 to 75 who were up-to-date with colorectal cancer screening based on all test types (FIT, sigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy, FIT-DNA, and CT Colonography) in 2020.

64 million – The estimated number of adults aged 50 to 75 who were screened for colorectal cancer in 2020.

19.9% – The percentage of adults aged 50 to 75 who had never been screened for colorectal cancer in 2020.

Screening options include:

• FIT testing annually.
• Fecal Occult Blood Test (FOBT) annually.
• Cologuard® every three years.
• Sigmoidoscopy every five years.
• Colonoscopy every 10 years.

Information obtained from the following websites:

https://www.ncqa.org/hedis/measures/colorectal-cancer-screening/

https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/colorectal/statistics/use-screening-tests-BRFSS.htm