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Screening for colorectal cancer probably is underused in some populations and might be overused in others, particularly in older people. Researchers used a Medicare database to identify about 24,000 patients (age, ≥66) who had negative screening colonoscopies between 2001 and 2003. Colonoscopies that involved biopsy or fulguration were excluded.
Rates of repeat colonoscopy at 5 and 7 years were 25% and 46%, respectively. Further assessment of these patients showed that slightly more than half had received new diagnoses that might have justified colonoscopy. The authors noted distinct inflection points in the cumulative rate of repeat colonoscopy at 3 and 5 years, which suggest that follow-up procedures were scheduled. Of patients who were 80…