Did You Know, Colorado? March 12, 2014

• Colorectal cancer is the second leading cancer killer of men and women in the United States and in Colorado, following lung cancer. In 2009, 642 Coloradans died from colorectal cancer.

• About 90% of people live 5 or more years when their colorectal cancer is found early through testing. In 2011, about 35% or 451,000 Coloradans aged 50-75 years did not meet colorectal cancer screening guidelines.¹ Disparities exist: 48% of Hispanics and 49% of those with incomes less than $25,000 did not meet the screening guidelines.

• Public health, health care providers, and health systems can promote recommended testing options, promote/use patient reminder systems to notify patients when it’s time for a screening test, and use patient navigators to increase testing rates.

¹ Meeting guidelines was defined as having FOBT within 1 year or sigmoidoscopy within 5 years and FOBT within 3 years or colonoscopy within 10 years. Data source: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

For more information about chronic disease data in Colorado, contact Renee Calanan.