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Predictors of Colorectal Cancer Knowledge and Screening Among Asian Americans Aged 50–75 years old

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Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Colorectal cancer, the second leading cause of mortality in the USA, can be prevented with colorectal cancer screening. However, many people who should receive the screening do not get screened. To learn more, this study estimated the prevalence of up-to-date colorectal cancer (CRC) screening and examined the relationship between CRC knowledge and screening compliance among Asian Americans living in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan area. The study included a cross-sectional sample of 274 Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese Americans aged 50–75 years old. Participants completed a questionnaire regarding CRC knowledge in either their preferred native language or in English, and data were collected in person. The percentage of total participants with up-to-date overall CRC screening was 52.9%. Up-to-date fecal occult blood test (FOBT) screening was 15.0% and colonoscopy was 50.7%. The average CRC knowledge score was 6.10 out of 9 (SD = 2.91). Those with high education, high English proficiency, married, health insurance, and good physical health ratings had higher CRC knowledge. In multivariate analysis, CRC knowledge was significantly correlated with increasing up-to-date colonoscopy (aOR = 2.74, 1.13–6.64). Having health insurance (aOR = 4.40, 2.33–8.32) was another predictor of up-to-date colonoscopy. These findings suggest that CRC knowledge is a strong predictor of CRC screening behavior in Asian American populations. Lack of CRC screening knowledge still remains an important barrier to screening, and increased public awareness is necessary to achieve greater screening compliance.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the participants of this study. We also appreciate the dedicated work of the members of the research team.

Contribution

HS Juon and S Lee conceptualized the study. J Guo and J Kim did literature review and wrote introduction. HS Juon wrote the first draft. HS Juon devised the analysis plan and conducted the analyses. All authors edited the final draft of the article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Oncology, Thomas Jefferson University, 834 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, USA

    Hee-Soon Juon, Jenny Guo & Jin Kim

  2. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Maryland School of Public Health, 4200 Valley Drive, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Sunmin Lee

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  1. Hee-Soon Juon
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  2. Jenny Guo
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  3. Jin Kim
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  4. Sunmin Lee
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hee-Soon Juon.

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Funding

This study was supported by the National Cancer Institute (grant number: R01CA163805).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

This study and all the procedures were approved by the Committee of Human Research at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Juon, HS., Guo, J., Kim, J. et al. Predictors of Colorectal Cancer Knowledge and Screening Among Asian Americans Aged 50–75 years old. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 5, 545–552 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-017-0398-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-017-0398-1

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