U.S. Colorectal Cancer Screening: An Update

Every other year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) releases data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) on colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates in the U.S. The BRFSS is a state-based, random-digit telephone survey of U.S. civilian, noninstitutionalized adults. The 2008 survey results (from more than 200,000 people; age range, 50–75) are now available.

Participants were asked, in layman's language, whether they had ever used a special home kit for fecal occult blood testing (FOBT), whether they had ever undergone sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy, and when these tests were last performed. Persons who had used an FOBT kit during the past year or had undergone lower endoscopy during the preceding 10 years …