Willingness to undergo colorectal cancer screening in first-degree relatives of hospitalized patients with colorectal cancer

Abstract

Aims To evaluate whether willingness to undergo colonoscopy screening is influenced by being a first-degree relative of hospitalized patients with or without colorectal cancer after briefing and surgeon recommendation. Methods We performed a cross-sectional study of 327 first-degree relatives of hospitalized patients aged higher than 40 years, divided into Group A (151 relatives of colorectal cancer patients) and Group B (176 relatives of non-cancer patients) at the University Hospital of the Canary Islands, Spain. All were personally briefed by a surgeon, aided by a colorectal cancer pamphlet, and encouraged to accept screening colonoscopy with sedation. Results Willingness to undergo colonoscopy screening was greater in Group A (66.9%) than in Group B (29.0%); (odds ratio: 11.1; 95% confidence interval ¼ 4.27 to 29.14; P , 0.001). Prebriefing awareness of screening colonoscopy was also significantly higher in Group A (76.8% vs. 33.5%; P , 0.001), the main source of information being a close relative with colorectal cancer. Conclusions Being a close relative of a colorectal cancer patient is positively related with willingness to undergo colonoscopy screening in this study. This cross-sectional study outlines a strategy for increasing the level of willingness to undergo colorectal cancer screening in a group of people at risk.

Knowledge, Attitudes and Awareness about Colorectal Cancer in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A Cross Sectional Study

“…30,31 Many studies found that positive family history of colorectal cancer as a motivational factor to undergo cancer screening test. 32,33 Interestingly, a large percentage (71%) of the studied population (368/521) willing to take the screening test even without any apparent symptoms which is consistent with previous studies conducted among Saudi general population. 34,35 Such positive attitude indicates that the studied populations are ready and willing to participate in future colorectal cancer screening program.…”

How is the increased risk of colorectal cancer in first-degree relatives of patients communicated?

“…Our study showed that 56.1% of FDRs who qualified for screening colonoscopy due to their age underwent a screening colonoscopy. This rate correlates with data from the literature (29-67%), but is in the upper range [1,5,8,19,26,27]. Stock and Brenner [28] showed prevalences of lower gastrointestinal endoscopy and fecal occult blood test utilization among adults aged 50 years or older in 11 countries (from the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe, SHARE).…”

“…The similarity of these data is an indication of its reliability. We found that a higher percentage of CRC patients were informed of their FDRs' increased CRC risk (80.6%) than in other studies (33-77.6%) [3,5,8,[19][20][21][22][23] Several factors might have influenced the high rate of informed CRC patients in our study. First, the flow of information is better in young index patients with CRC and in conditions with strong family togetherness [3,24,25].…”

“…Although population-based data are scarce, it is estimated that 5% of the US population have at least one FDR with CRC [2,3]. Familial clustering of CRC is common [4]; individuals with one FDR with CRC harbor a two-fold (and those with two or more relatives a four-fold) increased risk of CRC, independent of age at diagnosis [5]. Screening can significantly reduce morbidity and mortality of CRC and is recommended for average-risk persons over 50 years of age [6,7].…”

A population-based cross-sectional study of colorectal cancer screening practices of first-degree relatives of colorectal cancer patients

“…Despite the evidence that physician recommendation to screen has a powerful motivating effect on CRC screening uptake, [58] FDRs are most often not informed by physicians about the need for CRC screening [59]. A significantly higher rate of colonoscopy screening can result among those siblings where the index cases were aware of their FDRs’ increased risk [27].…”