Correlates of U.S. Adults Aged 50-75 Years Having Had a Colorectal Cancer Screening Test

Introduction: Colorectal cancer is a leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. Until 2021, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended colorectal cancer screening for all adults aged 50-75 years. Using a nationally representative sample, we explored the associations between having colorectal cancer screening and key sociodemographic and health-related factors among U.S. adults aged 50-75 years.

Methods: We analyzed self-reported data from the National Cancer Institute's Health Information National Trends Survey 5 (Cycle 4) collected from February to June 2020. A multivariable weighted logistic regression model was conducted using all of the factors that were univariably significant with p<0.10. Using backward elimination, factors that were not significant with p>0.05 were removed one at a time until the remaining factors were all significant collectively with p<0.05.

Results: Complete data were available for 1,649 respondents: 1,384 (81.2% weighted) had a colorectal cancer screening test, and 265 (18.8% weighted) did not. Multivariably, the odds of having had a colorectal cancer screening test increased with age (OR=1.07) and were higher for participants who identified as Black/African American than for White participants (OR=2.4), participants who had a family member who ever had cancer (OR=1.7), participants who believed that being overweight and obese influences development of cancer a lot than those who believed not at all (OR=2.0), and participants who had friends or family to talk with about health (OR=2.3).

Conclusions: Age, race, family history, weight-related beliefs about the causes of cancer, and having someone to talk with about health were associated with having colorectal cancer screening test.