Abstract
Adherence to colorectal cancer screening is suboptimal, particularly in medically underserved populations. We report here on our assessment of the impact of offering a blood-based screening test on screening rates in a health fair setting. Patients attending student-run health fairs who met colon cancer screening guideline eligibility criteria received a recommendation to attend that screening station. Patients were offered recommended accepted screening methods, and if they declined they were offered blood-based testing. Screening rates, test outcomes, and the rate of follow up completion of colonoscopy were measured and compared with historic screening outcomes. Of 1401 screening eligible patients, 640 (45.7%) attended the colon cancer screening station, of whom 460 were eligible for assessment. Amongst these, none selected colonoscopy, 30 (6.5%) selected FIT, and 430 (93.5%) selected blood-based testing. Only 2 patients returned the FIT. For the blood test, 88 were positive, and 20 of these received a follow up colonoscopy. Based on this assessment, blood-based testing is an effective method to increase screening rates in medically underserved populations, though efforts to further improve access to follow up colonoscopy are necessary.
Increasing uptake of colon cancer screening in a medically underserved population with the addition of blood-based testing
