STM Article Repository

Purpose: The primary objective was to describe the specific socio-demographic variables that are associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) under-screening in an urban, inner city population. The secondary objective was to determine the overall proportion of eligible patients who are not appropriately screened. Methods: A retrospective chart review of patients eligible for average-risk CRC screening as per Ontario’s ColonCancerCheck program guidelines was conducted at an academic, inner city family health practice associated with St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Ontario. Simple measures of association, including t-tests and chi-square tests, were used to determine the relationships between screening and demographic characteristics. Based on a type I error rate of 0.05 and an appropriate sample size, the calculated power for this study was 0.82. Results: A total of 200 patients were randomly selected; 54% were male; the majority were non-immigrants (77.5%) and were employed or retired (76.5%). Fifty-five percent of screened patients were up to date as per guidelines; 29.5% and 31% were up to date with a fecal occult blood test or a colonoscopy respectively. Individuals with psychiatric illness (p = 0.0005), with no history of prior cancer screening for other cancers (p = 0.0001), on disability or unemployed (p = 0.0010), or who were younger (p = 0.0062) were significantly less likely to undergo CRC screening. Conclusion: Colorectal cancer screening rates at this academic, urban family practice were very similar to province wide screening rates. Future studies should focus on group specific interventions to increase CRC screening uptake in low CRC screened populations.