Patient Navigation Increases Colorectal Cancer Screening Among Ethnically Diverse Patients

A study conducted at Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) has found that targeting patient navigation to black and non-English speaking patients may reduce disparities in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. The findings appear in the May 23 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Colorectal cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S., is preventable through screening. Nevertheless, about 40 percent of eligible adults in the U.S. and more foreign-born U.S. residents are overdue for CRC screening. The new study links the implementation of patient navigators, non-clinical staff members who guide patients through the health care system, to improved screening rates. Researchers identified 465 primary care patients from community health centers and public hospital-based clinics who were not up-to-date with CRC screening and spoke English, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, or Spanish.

The researchers randomly allocated patients to receive a patient navigation-based intervention or usual care. Over a 12-month period, the researchers found that intervention patients were more likely to undergo CRC screening than control patients (33.6 percent vs. 20.0 percent).

Focusing patient navigation on populations of black and non-English speaking patients may be a particularly effective approach to reducing CRC screening disparities for these patients.

Adapted from a Cambridge Health Alliance news release. For the full story, visit: http://www.challiance.org/aboutus/news/press_releases_11/110523_Lasser-patient-navigation-study.shtml

Cambridge Health Alliance is an affiliated teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School.