Breast, colorectal and prostate cancer screening for cancer survivors and non-cancer patients in community practices

Abstract

Background: Cancer survivors have cancer surveillance and preventive screening needs that require monitoring. Little is known regarding their patterns of care in community primary care practices.

Methods: Secondary analysis of 750 baseline patient surveys and medical record audits for patients ages 50+ years in 25 community-based primary care practices (N = 109 survivors and 641 noncancer patients).

Results: Patient self-reported screening rates for breast cancer (72%), colorectal cancer (81%) and prostate cancer (77%) were higher for cancer survivors compared to noncancer patients (69%, 67%, 53%, respectively). Screening rates documented in the primary care records were lower for all cancers. Cancer survivors were more likely than others to report having been screened for colorectal cancer (P = 0.002) even after excluding colorectal cancer survivors from the analysis (P = 0.034). Male cancer survivors were more likely to report being screened for prostate cancer than those without cancer (P < 0.001), even after excluding prostate cancer survivors (P = 0.020). There were no significant differences in either self-reported or medical record report of breast cancer screening rates among cancer survivors and noncancer patients.

Conclusions: Cancer survivors were more likely to self-report receipt of cancer screening than noncancer patients. Medical record reports of cancer screening were lower than self-reports for cancer survivors and noncancer patients. Identifying factors that affect cancer screening among cancer survivors is important and has implications for intervention design.