Outpatient Colonoscopy in Older Patients

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force does not recommend routine colorectal cancer screening for persons aged 75 to 85 and recommends against screening for those older than 85. Now, researchers have used Medicare claims data to examine the risks for gastrointestinal and cardiovascular complications within 30 days of outpatient colonoscopy in patients aged 66 to 95.

From July 2001 through October 2005, 118,002 colonoscopies were performed on Medicare beneficiaries. After application of exclusionary factors (e.g., colonoscopy performed in the inpatient setting or coded as incomplete; patient aged <66, at high risk for perforation, or undergoing 2 or more colonoscopies during the study period), 53,220 cases remained. Of these procedures, 5349…