Introduction

Organized outreach to increase CRC screening using mailed FIT tests has been shown to be effective, but durable changes to screening behavior after cessation of screening is not known.

Methods

In this study, after cessation of funding for an organized cancer screening outreach program, we evaluated whether adherence to screening remained elevated. Patients aged 50-75 years eligible for CRC screening from eight safety net clinics were randomly assigned to outreach intervention vs usual care alone in 2016 to 2018; the primary outcome analyzed was the difference in the cumulative proportion of completed FIT screening between study assignments 1 year after study cessation.

Results

Despite higher rates of FIT screening for patients who were randomly assigned to the outreach intervention, FIT completion was not significantly different between the group that received the outreach services versus the usual care group (28.3% vs 29.8%, p = 0.158).

Conclusion

Outreach campaigns and their activities must be sustained to maintain improved rates of screening participation.

Introduction

Limited data exists on the effectiveness of organized outreach campaigns on CRC screening completion for patients who are newly eligible for such screening.

Methods

We conducted an analysis of an existing clinical trial dataset of a publicly funded safety-net health system serving low-income populations.

Results

A total of 619 patients aged 50-51 received the outreach intervention and 3108 patients aged greater than 51 years old who had no prior history of FIT testing similarly received the outreach intervention. Patients newly eligible for FIT were more likely to complete a FIT test compared with older patients who had yet to complete a FIT test (58.3% vs 40.5%, p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Patients who are newly eligible for colorectal cancer screening are more likely to respond to outreach interventions than older patients without a prior history of FIT, indicating newly eligible patients across diverse populations may benefit from targeted outreach intervention.