Philadelphia—On average, 1000 people in Southeastern Pennsylvania (SEPA) die from colorectal cancer—cancer of the colon or rectum—each year. Despite evidence that shows that at least a third of deaths due to colorectal cancer could be prevented if those at risk are screened regularly, many SEPA adults are not getting recommended screenings, according to new data from the Philadelphia Health Management Corporation’s (PHMC) 2006 Southeastern Household Health Survey.
While adults 50 and over should consider getting a sigmoidoscopy and a colonoscopy, PHMC’s 2006 data show that more than one-in-three adults 50 years or older (36.9%)—representing 484,000 SEPA adults—have never received either colorectal cancer screen in their lifetime. A sigmoidoscopy is recommended at least once every five years after age 50, and a colonoscopy is recommended at least once every ten years after age 50.
Also according to the PHMC data, certain populations in SEPA are more likely to have never received either screen for colorectal cancer than others. Specifically, PHMC found that in SEPA:
·Women (40.0%) are more likely than men (33.5%) to have never had either screen for colorectal cancer.
·Latino adults (47.1%) are more likely to have never had either screen than Black (37.1%) and white (36.1%) adults.
·Adults living in poverty (43.8%) are more likely than adults not living in poverty (36.2%) to have never had either colorectal cancer screen.
·Adults without any health insurance coverage (67.4%) are nearly twice as likely as adults with health insurance coverage (35.9%) to have never received either a sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy screen.
·More than half of adults without a regular source of care (54.6%), compared to more than 35.7% of adults with a regular source of care, have never had either screen for colorectal cancer.
Healthy People 2010, the U.S. government’s blueprint for reducing disease rates across the country, dictates that in order to reduce preventable deaths due to this disease, screening rates must improve so adults can detect pre-cancerous polyps. Although screening rates are beginning to rise in SEPA–in 2006. 61.1% of adults 50 years or older reported having had either a sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy compared to 56.6% in 2004 and 57.2 % in 2002–they remain too low to achieve the Healthy People 2010 goal of reducing deaths due to colorectal cancer to 13.9 (per 100,000 population).
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PHMC is a non-profit, public health institute that builds healthier communities through partnerships with government, foundations, businesses and other community-based organizations. For more information on PHMC, visit www.phmc.org. The Household Health Survey is conducted by PHMC’s Community Health Data Base Project, which is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, The William Penn Foundation, The United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, and a variety of participating agencies from the health, government, nonprofit, and academic sectors.
For more information on colorectal screenings, contact Francine Axler, Senior Research Associate, at 215-985-2521 or Francine@phmc.org. Additional Survey findings are located online at www.phmc.org/chdb.
