Low adherence to colonoscopy in the screening of first-degree relatives of patients with colorectal cancer

Abstract

Colonoscopy is one of the methods of choice for screening relatives of patients with colorectal cancer. To evaluate the rate of adherence to colonoscopy in first-degree relatives of patients with colorectal cancer and describe the lesions found. A prospective, cross-sectional, multicentre, nationwide study was conducted. The study population was composed of first-degree relatives of patients with colorectal cancer selected randomly from the EPICOLON study. Seventy-four index patients were included. These had 342 living first-degree relatives (parents, siblings and children), of whom 281 were interviewed. The adherence rate was 38% (107/281). Adherence was greater in families with a higher degree of familial aggregation for colorectal cancer (88.9% for Amsterdam vs 33.3% for Bethesda and sporadic cancer; por=65 years; por=65 years; p = 0.05), in female relatives (49% in female relatives vs 27.3% in male relatives; p<0.05) and in siblings and children (40% in siblings and children vs 13% in parents; p<0.05). Lesions were found in 26% (28/107) of the study population. Nine (8.4%) individuals had a total of 18 advanced lesions. These results indicate that adherence to colonoscopy in our population of first-degree relatives was low. The adherence was more frequently associated with a higher degree of familial aggregation, a relative age of under 65 years, a sibling or offspring relationship, and female sex.