Cancer survivors are more likely to get colorectal cancer screening than the general public

Researchers analyzed data from 59 studies to look at how often people get colorectal cancer screening. The group included cancer survivors and people from the general population who had no cancer history. The main goal was to compare screening rates between these two groups. The overall pooled prevalence of screening was found to be 0.53 across all participants. When comparing cancer survivors to cancer-free controls, the study found survivors were more likely to be screened. The odds ratio was 1.39 with a 95% confidence interval of 1.26 to 1.52. No safety concerns were reported because the study looked at screening uptake rather than treatment side effects. However, some evidence of publication bias was noted. Study design and how screening was recorded varied significantly between the included studies. These differences were significant sources of heterogeneity. Future studies should evaluate predictors of nonadherence to colorectal cancer screening among cancer survivors. This information could help policymakers target populations with lower screening rates.