Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening is underused in the United States, and non-adherence with screening recommendations is high in some populations. This study describes the characteristics of people who have never been screened for CRC. In addition, we use the health belief model to examine the constructs associated with screening behavior. We used data from the 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to create three study outcomes: people who have been screened for CRC and are up-to-date with current recommendations, people who have been screened but are not up-to-date, and people who have never been screened. We used multivariate logistic regression modeling to calculate predicted marginal estimates examining the associations between the screening outcomes and demographic and Health Belief Model (HBM) characteristics. Overall 29 % of respondents had never been screened for CRC. In the adjusted model, 36.6 % of US adults age 50-59 years and 29.1 % of US men reported never being screened for CRC. More Asian/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, non-Hispanics (38.2 %) reported never being screened than members of other racial and ethnic groups. Nearly 37 % of people with less than a high school diploma reported never being screened. We found statistically significant differences among screening outcomes for all demographics and HBM constructs except could not see a doctor because of costs in the last 12 months, where approximately 29 % reported no CRC screening. New interventions should focus on those subpopulations that have never been screened for CRC.