Factors Driving 3-Year Colonoscopy Follow-Up for Low-Risk Adenomas

It is well known that colonoscopy is often used at shorter-than-recommended intervals for screening and surveillance. Nongastroenterologists have been shown to be more likely to overuse colonoscopy.

To identify factors associated with endoscopist choice of a shorter-than-recommended colonoscopy screening interval (3 vs. 5 years) in patients with low-risk adenomas, researchers evaluated data from 1560 persons with 1 or 2 low-risk adenomas who participated in a chemoprevention trial of vitamin D and calcium.

Three-year follow-up was recommended in 38% of participants. In a multivariate analysis, factors significantly associated with selection of a short interval were African-American or Asian/Pacific Islander patient race, family history of col…