Having a Personal Health Care Provider and Receipt of Colorectal Cancer Testing

R. Cardarelli, J. E. Thomas
2009 Annals of Family Medicine  
We wanted to assess the relationship between having a personal health care provider and receiving colorectal cancer testing. Self-reported data were obtained from the United States 2004 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Men and women aged 50 years and older were included, and associations of having a personal health care provider, age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, income, and health insurance status with colorectal cancer testing were examined. Multiple logistic regression was
more » ... rmed on a final sample of 120,221 individuals. Having at least 1 personal health care provider significantly predicted up-to-date colorectal cancer testing in both the univariate (odds ratio [OR]=3.96; 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.56-4.41) and multiple regression models (OR = 2.91; 95% CI 2.58-3.28). Age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, income, and health insurance were also significantly associated with up-to-date colorectal cancer testing. Having a personal health care provider was associated with up-to-date colorectal cancer testing. Efforts to increase and support the primary care workforce are needed to improve up-to-date colorectal cancer screening rates.
doi:10.1370/afm.904 pmid:19139443 pmcid:PMC2625828 fatcat:y5ajkxm33jhwffowvixq7dwzay