An official website of the United States government
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¶
Weekly / June 23, 2023 / 72(25);699
Abbreviations: FIT = fecal immunochemical test; FPL = federal poverty level.
* Age-adjusted percentages are based on the 2000 U.S. Census Bureau standard population using age groups 50–64 and 65–75 years, with 95% CIs indicated by error bars.
† Based on survey questions that included reports of home fecal occult blood test or FIT in the past year, sigmoidoscopy during the past 5 years, colonoscopy during the past 10 years, computed tomography colonography or virtual colonoscopy during the past 5 years, or Cologuard or FIT-DNA test during the past 3 years. Adults aged 50–75 with a history of colorectal cancer are excluded from the denominator. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendations for colorectal cancer screening were updated in 2021 (https://www. uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/colorectal-cancer-screening) to expand the age group to 45–75 years; however, because these recommendations were issued during the middle of 2021 National Health Interview Survey data collection, the estimates in this report are limited to the age group for the previous recommendation.
§ As a percentage of FPL, which is based on family income and family size, using the U.S. Census Bureau’s poverty thresholds. Family income was imputed when missing.
¶ Estimates are based on household interviews of a sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized U.S. population.
In 2021, 71.6% of adults aged 50–75 years reported they received the recommended colorectal cancer screening, with the percentage increasing with income from 56.7% for those with family incomes <100% of FPL to 63.0% for those with family incomes 100% to <200% of FPL, and 74.9% for those with family incomes ≥200% of FPL. The same pattern by income was found among women, ranging from 55.0% for those with family incomes <100% of FPL to 68.1% for those with family incomes 100% to <200%, and 75.8% for those with family incomes ≥200% of FPL. Among men, the percentage was similar for those with family incomes <100% of FPL (58.7%) and family incomes 100% to <200% of FPL (57.2%), but increased to 74.0% for those with family incomes ≥200% of FPL. Overall, 72.6% of women and 70.6% of men received the recommended screening; the percentage was higher among women than men with family incomes 100% to <200% of FPL (68.1% versus 57.2%), but was similar for the other family income groups.
Source: National Center for Health Statistics, National Health Interview Survey, 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/index.htm
Reported by: Nazik Elgaddal, MS, nelgaddal@cdc.gov; Deepthi Kandi, MS.
Suggested citation for this article: 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. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2023;72:699. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7225a7.
MMWR and Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report are service marks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Use of trade names and commercial sources is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services.
References to non-CDC sites on the Internet are
provided as a service to MMWR readers and do not constitute or imply
endorsement of these organizations or their programs by CDC or the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. CDC is not responsible for the content
of pages found at these sites. URL addresses listed in MMWR were current as of
the date of publication.
All HTML versions of MMWR articles are generated from final proofs through an automated process. This conversion might result in character translation or format errors in the HTML version. Users are referred to the electronic PDF version (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr) and/or the original MMWR paper copy for printable versions of official text, figures, and tables.
Questions or messages regarding errors in formatting should be addressed to mmwrq@cdc.gov.