VCU School of Medicine obtains National Cancer Institute grant to investigate colorectal cancer screening

By Tammy Pham
University News Services

A Virginia Commonwealth University physician has been awarded a grant from the National Cancer Institute to study why some people don’t seek colorectal cancer screening.

Steven Woolf, M.D., professor and director of research in VCU’s Department of Family Medicine, hopes to use the data to improve the screening rate for colorectal cancer, which could lead to earlier detection.

The research will be conducted among more than 6,000 patients, ages 50 through 75, at 12 primary care practices that participate in a research network in Virginia called the Ambulatory Care Outcomes Research Network, or ACORN.

“Colorectal cancer screening rates are low,” said Resa Jones, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the VCU School of Medicine with joint appointments in the Department of Epidemiology and Community Health and the Massey Cancer Center. “Less than 50 percent of the age-eligible population is receiving screening according to recommendations.

“The purpose of the grant is to describe the factors that patients identify as their reasons for not having colorectal cancer screening and the relative importance they assign to each factor,” said Jones, who is the project director for the research.

Patients’ responses to a mailed questionnaire will be analyzed to produce an epidemiologic distribution of the barriers. Differences among the profiles will then be examined across demographic subgroups, including age, gender, race, education, income, geographic setting and clinical circumstances.

Woolf and Jones will review that data, and patient responses to the open-ended survey question will be analyzed to pinpoint previously unrecognized barriers to screening.

The study may help prioritize strategies for improving colorectal cancer screening rates, leading to earlier detection and more effective treatments.