March 28, 2007 — The periodic health examination (PHE) is an appropriate time for primary care clinicians to encourage cancer screening and was linked significantly with patient completion of breast and colorectal cancer screening and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, according to the results of a retrospective cohort study reported in the March 26 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
"Patients and physicians strongly endorse the importance of preventive or periodic health examinations (PHEs)," write Joshua J. Fenton, MD, MPH, from the University of California, Davis, in Sacramento, California, and colleagues. "However, the extent to which PHEs contribute to the delivery of cancer screening is uncertain."
The investigators determined the association between receipt of a PHE and cancer testing in a population-based cohort of 64,288 enrollees in a Washington State health plan who were aged 52 to 78 years and eligible for colorectal, breast, or prostate cancer screening in 2002-2003. Endpoints included completion of any colorectal cancer testing (fecal occult blood testing, sigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy, or barium enema), screening mammography, and PSA testing.
During the study period, 52.4% of the enrollees received a PHE. Receiving a PHE was significantly associated with completion of colorectal cancer testing, after adjustment for demographics, comorbidity, number of outpatient visits, and historical preventive service use before January 1, 2002 (incidence difference, 40.4% [95% confidence interval (CI), 39.4% - 41.3%]; relative incidence, 3.47 [95% CI, 3.34 - 3.59]).
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