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We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com. Back to Healio Key takeaways: Adults ages 45-49 years are less likely to have discussed colorectal cancer screening with a healthcare professional than older adults. Communication about different screening options also lags in this group. Clinician counseling may be inadequate for younger adults newly eligible for colorectal cancer screening, according to study findings presented at this year\u2019s AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities. A survey of screening-eligible individuals in the U.S. showed those aged 45 to 49 years were approximately three times more likely than older adults to report that they have never discussed colorectal cancer screening tests with a healthcare professional.
Data derived from Baeker Bispo J, et al. Age-related differences in clinician communication about colorectal cancer screening in the US. Presented at: AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities; Oct. 18-21, 2026; Atlanta.
In addition, a considerably lower percentage of younger adults reported that a clinician had spoken with them about the multiple screening modalities available, including alternatives to colonoscopy. \u201cWe expected there would be differences by age, but the magnitude of those differences was quite large,\u201d lead author Jordan Baeker Bispo, PhD, MPH, principal scientist of cancer disparity research at American Cancer Society, told Healio. \u201cThe high proportion of adults in the younger age group who reported they had never discussed colorectal cancer screening tests with their healthcare professional certainly was alarming, and it should be a wake-up call given the increasing burden of early-onset colorectal cancer.\u201d \u2018One piece to this puzzle\u2019 Approximately 10% to 12% of colorectal cancers in the U.S. are classified as early onset, meaning they occur among individuals aged younger than 50 years. Incidence of early-onset colorectal cancer rose by 2.9% per year from 2013 to 2022, according to American Cancer Society statistics, a stark contrast to the approximate 1% annual decline in new diagnoses overall. Meanwhile, the mortality rate is increasing among people aged younger than 65 years. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force updated its colorectal cancer screening guidance in 2021, lowering the age at which average-risk adults are recommended to begin screening from 50 to 45 years. However, only about 37% of adults ages 45 to 49 are up-to-date with colorectal cancer screening, Baeker Bispo said. \u201cThere has been a lot of interest in screening in that younger age group as a way to offset the burden of early-onset colorectal cancer, but uptake has been slow,\u201d she said. \u201cPart of that is expected because there is lag time between guideline updates, dissemination of the changes to clinicians and integration into clinical care. However, we wanted to understand to what extent adults in that age group are getting information about colorectal cancer screening because that might be one piece to this puzzle.\u201d Communication \u2018essential\u2019 Baeker Bispo and colleagues examined data from the 2024 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS), a nationally representative survey that assesses the public\u2019s knowledge of and attitudes toward cancer and other health topics. The survey included this question: \u201cHas a doctor or other health professional ever told you there are a few different tests to detect colorectal cancer?\u201d Response options included \u201cYes,\u201d \u201cNo\u201d or \u201cI have never discussed these tests with a doctor or other health professional.\u201d The researchers analyzed responses from 3,626 colorectal cancer screening-eligible adults aged 45 to 75 years with no history of the disease. Respondents aged 45 to 49 appeared more than three times as likely as those aged 65 to 75 to report never having discussed colorectal cancer screening with a clinician (23.2% vs. 7%; adjusted prevalence ratio [aPR] = 2.71; 95% CI, 1.64-4.46). A significantly lower percentage of respondents in the younger vs. older age group reported that a clinician had told them about different colorectal screening tests (50.3% vs. 72.5%; aPR = 0.73; 95% CI, 0.63-0.85). Because the survey asked respondents if they \u201cever\u201d had been told about different screening tests, older individuals understandably would have had more opportunities to discuss the topic with healthcare professionals, Baeker Bispo said. However, the gaps in the younger age group are concerning for multiple reasons. \u201cA doctor\u2019s recommendation is one of the strongest determinants of a patient\u2019s decision to get screened, so making sure healthcare professionals are talking with their patients about it is essential,\u201d Baeker Bispo said. \u201cDiscussions about different screening options is an important piece, too, given people have different preferences. A person averse to colonoscopy who is not aware of other modalities may not get screened. We want to be sure that they are aware of the options that are available so they can choose the test that works for them.\u201d Age-stratified analyses showed non-Hispanic Black individuals aged 45 to 49 years were significantly less likely than non-Hispanic white individuals in the same age group to report receiving information about different screening options from a healthcare professional (33.2% vs. 60.7%; aPR = 0.58; 95% CI, 0.37-0.91). Differences by race or ethnicity did not reach statistical significance in older age groups, a finding Baeker Bispo said may indicate race-associated barriers to screening or other aspects of healthcare access become less pronounced as patients age and become eligible for Medicare. A patient-centered approach The researchers acknowledged study limitations, such as the small sample size and use of self-reported survey data. However, the findings highlight \u201ca major opportunity\u201d to improve screening uptake in this age group, Baeker Bispo said. Strategies at the clinician and practice levels may help, she said. For example, automated prompts that appear in the electronic health record during clinical encounters could ensure screening recommendations are delivered in a more routine \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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