Improving Colorectal Cancer Screening in 2011: Comment on “Patient Outreach to Promote Colorectal Cancer Screening Among Patients With an Expired Order for Colonoscopy”

Over the past 12 years, we have made substantial progress in screening US adults aged 50 to 75 years for colorectal cancer (CRC). In 1999, 44% of US adults were up to date with some form of CRC screening¹; in 2002, the proportion had increased to 52%, and it was 63% in 2008.² Mortality rates for CRC have also decreased substantially over this same period.³ However, despite this increase in screening and reduction in mortality, over one-third of age-eligible US adults were not up-to-date in 2008, and there were substantial disparities based on income, education, and health insurance coverage.²