Abstract 4223: Colorectal cancer knowledge and screening among Asian Americans aged 50-75 years old
Authors: Guo Jenny , Juon Hee-Soon , Lee Sunmin 
Published: July 2017

Background: Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean Americans, three of the largest Asian American (AA) subgroups, have particularly high rates of colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence and mortality. However, CRC screening rates among these Asian Americans remain very low. Increased knowledge of CRC has been shown to be positively correlated with a person’s inclination to undergo screening.

Purpose: This study estimated the prevalence of up to date CRC screening and examined the predictors of CRC knowledge and screening compliance among Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese Americans living in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area.

Methods: A cross-sectional sample was employed in this study and included 274 Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese Americans between ages 50-75 years old. A questionnaire was given to participants in either their preferred native language or in English. Data was collected in person.

Results: Data from the 2009 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) indicates that Chinese Americans had higher rates of FOBT at 32.2% than Vietnamese Americans (27.3%) and Korean Americans (24.8%). Compared to these rates from CHIS, we had significantly lower rates of up to date FOBT: less than 10% (9.1%) reported having FOBT in the past year. Vietnamese had the highest rate (13.8%) followed by Korean (7.5%) and Chinese (6.9%). For the prevalence of up to date colonoscopy (&lt;10 years), CHIS data disaggregated by ethnicity among AA shows that Vietnamese Americans (63.7%) had highest rates of having colonoscopy followed by Korean Americans (51.1%) and Chinese Americans (48.7%). In our study, Chinese had higher rates of up to date colonoscopy (63.3%) than Vietnamese (47.5%) and Korean (43.0%). The average CRC Knowledge Score was 6.10 out of 9 (SD=2.91). In bivariate analysis, education, marital status, and self-rated health were highly correlated with CRC knowledge. Those with higher education levels, those married, and those rated with good physical health had increased CRC knowledge. In multivariate analysis, education, health insurance, and CRC knowledge were significantly related to having colonoscopy. Those with high CRC knowledge were more likely to have colonoscopy than those low knowledge (aOR=2.74, 95% CI, 1.13, 6.64). Those who had health insurance had higher likelihood of having colonoscopy than those without health insurance (aOR=4.40, 95% CI, 2.33, 8.32). Those more than high school education were less likely to have colonoscopy than those with less than high school education (aOR=0.37, 95% CI, 0.16, 0.84). Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that CRC knowledge is a strong predictor of CRC screening behavior in Asian Americans. Lack of CRC screening knowledge still remains an important barrier to screening, and future strategies to increase public awareness on CRC is necessary to achieve greater screening compliance amongst AA populations.

Citation Format: Jenny Guo, Hee-Soon Juon, Sunmin Lee. Colorectal cancer knowledge and screening among Asian Americans aged 50-75 years old [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4223. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-4223