Annual Self-Screening With FIT Effective for Colorectal Cancer Detection

FIT Follow-Up Varies There is significant variation in the time between patient’s receipt of positive fecal blood test results and the follow-up colonoscopies, according to a study published Feb. 4 in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. While health care system factors influence the length of this lag, laboratories may able to help improve processes involving return of abnormal test results. Using data from the Population-Based Research Optimizing Screening through Personalized Regimens (PROSPR) consortium, researchers identified 62,384 individuals (aged 50 to 89 years) with a positive fecal blood test (fecal occult blood tests or fecal immunochemical tests) between 2011 and 2012 in four U.S. health care systems. The researchers found that most patients who received a colonoscopy did so within 6 months of their positive fecal blood test result, although follow-up rates varied significantly across health care systems (median range, 41 to 174 days, while the percent followed-up by 12 months ranged from 58.1 percent to 83.8 percent). Increasing age and comorbidities were associated with lower follow-up rates, but health system differences persisted at 1, 2, 3, and 6 months. "Data support the importance of organizational factors in the completion of diagnostic work-up of positive fecal blood tests," write the authors […]