Colorectal Cancer Screening by Income and Sex, 2021

Colorectal cancer screening can take several forms, and adults count as up to date if, depending on the test, they had a home stool test (fecal occult blood test or fecal immunochemical test, FIT) in the past year, a sigmoidoscopy or CT colonography in the past 5 years, a colonoscopy in the past 10 years, or a Cologuard (FIT-DNA) test in the past 3 years. This CDC QuickStats shows who was up to date in 2021, using the National Health Interview Survey.

Recommended colorectal cancer screening among adults aged 50–75, by sex and family income, 2021. Credit: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The numbers

Overall, 71.6% of adults aged 50–75 had received the recommended screening — 72.6% of women and 70.6% of men.

Percentages are age-adjusted.

What it shows

• Screening rose with income. People in families at 200% of the poverty level or more were the most likely to be up to date.
• Among women, each step up in income meant more screening.
• Among men, the two lower income groups were similar, and screening jumped only at 200% of the poverty level or more.
• Women and men screened at similar rates except in the middle income group, where women were well ahead (68.1% compared with 57.2%).

A note on age

In 2021, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force expanded its colorectal cancer screening recommendation to adults aged 45–75. Because that change came in the middle of the survey's 2021 data collection, these estimates use the earlier age range, 50–75. Adults with a history of colorectal cancer were excluded.

Sources

Based on "QuickStats: Age-Adjusted Percentage of Adults Aged 50–75 Years Who Received the Recommended Colorectal Cancer Screening, by Sex and Family Income — National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2021," by Nazik Elgaddal and Deepthi Kandi, National Center for Health Statistics, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 72(25), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain.