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Editorial
May 18, 2021

Updated USPSTF Guidelines for Colorectal Cancer Screening: The Earlier the Better

Author Affiliations
  • 1University of Arizona–Banner University Medical Center, Tucson
JAMA Surg. 2021;156(8):708-709. doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2021.1939

The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), convened by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, draws from a panel of national experts to provide evidence-based recommendations regarding various clinical preventive services that include screenings as well as preventive medications and behavioral counseling. These recommendations focus on assessing a balance of benefits and harms, while excluding issues of cost from their analysis of the preventive service in view. In 2016, the USPSTF released recommendations regarding colorectal cancer (CRC) screening1; such recommendations are particularly important given that CRC is currently the third leading cause of cancer death in the world and the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States.2 As screening for CRC has been estimated to reduce the incidence and mortality from this disease,3 screening adherence and barriers to screening are matters of gravity.

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