Clinical gastroenterology and hepatology : the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association
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Clin. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. · Aug 2007
Impact of comorbidity on colorectal cancer screening in the veterans healthcare system.
The quality assessment measure of colorectal cancer screening in the veteran's health system reports the proportion of patients aged 52-80 years who were tested. This approach does little to assess for comorbid illnesses, which might limit the utility of screening. Our aim was to determine the relationship between patient comorbidity and screening by fecal occult blood test in a national sample of veterans. ⋯ Although there was a strong relationship in the veteran population between the Charlson score and survival, colorectal cancer screening utilization was not impacted by Charlson score. Instead, resources were expended evenly throughout the population, rather than directed toward screening the patients with the most life-years at stake. The quality measure for colorectal cancer screening should be modified to account for patient comorbidity.