The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a new Vital Signs report that found one in three adults 50 to 75 years old are not being tested for colorectal cancer.
The cancer screening rates are too low, the report found, with nearly 23 million adults foregoing the test. The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy recommends a first screening at 50 and another 10 years later for those with normal initial test results.
The Vital Report also found:
• Of adults following screening recommendations, 62 percent had colonoscopy tests.
• 10 percent had fecal occult blood tests.
• Fewer than 1 percent had flexible signoidoscopy in combination with FOTB tests
Fewer than 50 percent of the people who will die of colorectal cancer this year could have been saved by proper early testing, said Anil Rustgi, MD, American Gastroenterological Association Institute president and chief of gastroenterology at University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia.
