Study: Colon Test More Urgent Than Prostate Screening

Prostate cancer screening is more popular than colon cancer screening -- a procedure known to prevent cancer and reduce death, according to a new study.

The results surprised Department of Veterans Affairs researchers, since the proven benefits of colon screening seem to have little influence on the majority of men 50 and older who are getting checked for cancer.

Their findings appear in Wednesday's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"We were surprised by the results," said lead author Dr. Brenda Sirovich, of the VA Outcomes Group in White River Junction, Vt., VA Medical Center and Darmouth Medical School. "We anticipated that if medical care was in line with scientific evidence, then the proven test, colorectal cancer screening, would be more common than the unproven prostate cancer screening, but this was not the case."

Sirovich speculates that the prostate cancer screening test is more popular because it is just a simple blood test, while colon cancer screening is more involved.

Using data from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey of more than 49,000 men from all 50 states, investigators found 75 percent men 50 and older reported having undergone prostate cancer screening at least once, and the likelihood of testing increased until age 80.

The researchers found that less than half the men surveyed were up-to-date on colorectal screenings. Only 63 percent had undergone the screening.

"More men had been tested for prostate cancer than for colon cancer in all but four states (where the rates were equal). That tells us there is a mismatch between the scientific evidence of screening benefit and what men are actually being screened for," Sirovich said.

Although prostate cancer is the second most lethal cancer among men, it develops so late in life that it often has no time to become a threat. In fact, the cascade of events that follow the discovery of prostate cancer -- such as invasive follow-up testing and surgery -- can be far more harmful than the cancer itself.

On the other hand, all major professional medical societies advocate colorectal cancer screening for adults aged 50 and older. Previous studies show that the fecal occult blood test has greatly reduced the colon cancer death rate, and flexible sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy could prove even better.

Colorectal and prostate cancer cause nearly the same number of deaths each year in the United States -- 27,800 and 30,200 respectively. However, according to Sirovich, it is colorectal cancer that robs more living years from its victims, because people who die from colorectal cancer are typically younger than those dying from prostate cancer.

"We know that men are being screened for cancer, but now we need to better inform them of which tests are most likely to be beneficial," said Sirovich. "We hope our findings will enhance conversations between physicians and their patients."