Email Reminders for Colon Cancer Health Screening

Screening colonoscopies for colon cancer are recommended every ten years for those over the age of fifty, those with a strong family history of colon polyps or colon cancer (at a younger age) and those with known polyps. Risk factors for colon cancer also include a lack of diet and exercise, smoking history, heavy alcohol use and a low fiber diet. Colon cancer is currently the second leading

cause of cancer death in the US and if it is detected sooner or the polyps removed before they become cancerous, they can seriously improve the chances of an individual’s survival. The colon cancer survival rate is 90 percent if the cancer is found early and treated early.

Unfortunately, less than 40 percent of all colon cancers are found early enough because the screening rate is very low, compared to, say, breast cancer screening. Patients are often unmotivated to be screened or are unaware of when they should be screened. Some researchers believe that sending email reminders to patients might increase the screening rate. A recent study has shown an increase in screening rate when the patient was reminded by means of email.

In the study, the patients were given the option of having email reminders or not and were given the option of sharing their intentions with their physician. Patients were found to receive their colonoscopy within one month of having an email sent to them than at any other time. The effect wore off after about four months. This means that doctors need to repeat giving the email reminder at least every four months. This can be part of electronic outreach programs at HMOs and at doctors’ offices.

Colon cancer screening can involve that for a colonoscopy, for a flexible sigmoidoscopy and for FIT screening and FOBT screening, which are done more often than colonoscopies. On the other hand, because colonoscopy exams are done so infrequently, email screening would probably be the best way to give that reminder to patients you otherwise don’t see that often in the office. Yearly screening for FIT testing or FOBT testing can make sure that the screening gets done at regular intervals, also helping improve morbidity rates from colon cancer.

Doctors need to consider using electronic messaging like email or other means of electronic messaging for reminders for many different kinds of screening tests—and not just colon cancer. Breast cancer and prostate cancer screening can be done via emailing and diabetics or heart patients can have more frequent screening for the various testing that needs to be done to evaluate their conditions.