News Finding: Credit: UT Southwestern
  
  
  
  People who visit their primary care physicians are more likely to get potentially life-saving colon cancer screenings and follow up on abnormal stool blood test results - even in health systems that heavily promote mail-in home stool blood tests that don't require a doctor visit, a study involving UT Southwestern population health researchers shows.
Paper Finding: Almost one-third of patients had at least one comorbid condition.
News Context: Credit: UT Southwestern
  
  
  
  People who visit their primary care physicians are more likely to get potentially life-saving colon cancer screenings and follow up on abnormal stool blood test results - even in health systems that heavily promote mail-in home stool blood tests that don't require a doctor visit, a study involving UT Southwestern population health researchers shows. The results are important because screening for colon cancer - the third most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States - is underutilized in the U.S. "These findings help underscore the continued importance and effectiveness of visits with primary care physicians in a brave new world of virtual care and population health outreach," said Dr. Ethan Halm, Director of UT Southwestern's Center for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, and a member of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Paper Context: The population was racially and ethnically diverse, with 51.7 % non-Hispanic white, 19.0 % Hispanic, 12.3 % Asian, and 8.2 % black individuals. Almost one-third of patients had at least one comorbid condition. Sociodemographic characteristics of patients differed substantially among sites, based on differences in geography and socioeconomic status of the populations served.