Getting people aged 50 and older to adhere to colorectal cancer screening guidelines can be just as arduous a task as getting sugar-crazed kids to eat their Brussels sprouts, but a new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine finds that mailing patients a letter from a physician in addition to an informational brochure and DVD can increase screening rates at three months and keep the difference sustained for up to six months. In a randomized trial of 628 patients between 50 and 79 years, researchers sent the intervention group a physician’s letter, educational brochure and DVD while the control group received a standard outreach letter at six months. Even though only 30 percent of participants reported actually watching the DVD, the intervention still resulted in a 6 to 7 percent absolute difference in the rate of screening with colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy or fecal occult blood testing at three and six months.
ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross notes that “sending out physician letters and brochures seems like a worthwhile process that will hopefully get more people over the age of 50 to get their recommended colorectal cancer screenings on a regular basis.”
