The National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable announced its ambitious goal to achieve an 80 percent national CRC screening rate by 2018. A study published in the journal Cancer focuses on determining the number of individuals that need to be screened to achieve this goal.
Here are five things to know from the study.
1. The study authors determined the number of individuals who need to be screened to achieve the 80 percent goal based on data from the 2013 National Health Interview Survey and the 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.
2. Overall, 24.39 million individuals across the country between ages 50 to 75 years old will need to be screened by 2018 to achieve the Roundtable's goal.
3. The number of individuals per state that will need to be screened varies widely. For example, 45,400 individuals will need to be screened in Vermont, while 2.72 million individuals will need to be screened in California, according to the report.
4. The majority of people who need to be screened fall into two subgroups: the privately insured and those aged 50 to 64 years.
5. The study authors recommend improving patient awareness, physician recommendations and screening facilitators to help reach the goal.