Improving Breast and Colon Cancer Screening Rates: A Comparison of Letters, Automated Phone Calls, or Both

Article Figures & Data

Table 1. Baseline Characteristics of Patients Past Due for Mammography Screening By Intervention Group

Characteristics	Intervention			P Value
Characteristics	Group 1 (Letter) (n = 90)	Group 2 (Automated Phone Call) (n = 88)	Group 3 (Letter and Automated Phone Call) (n = 93)	P Value
Age (years)				.5095
50–59	57.8 (52)	59.1 (52)	65.6 (61)
≥60	42.2 (38)	40.9 (36)	34.4 (32)
Race/ethnicity				.9718
Non-Hispanic white	77.9 (67)	79.8 (67)	76.3 (71)
Non-Hispanic black	11.6 (10)	9.5 (8)	12.9 (12)
Other (eg, Hispanic)	10.5 (9)	10.7 (9)	10.8 (10)
Household income				.8252
≥$40,000	48.9 (44)	52.3 (46)	52.7 (49)
$30,000-$39,999	26.7 (24)	28.4 (25)	22.6 (21)
<$30,000	24.4 (22)	19.3 (17)	24.7 (23)
Insurance^*				.0034
Private	48.9 (44)	51.1 (45)	69.9 (65)
Medicare	38.9 (35)	26.1 (23)	19.4 (18)
Medicaid	12.2 (11)	22.7 (20)	10.7 (10)
Preintervention screening rates^*	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	NA

Data are % (n). Small discrepancies between the total number of patients in a group and the summed numbers in the columns reflect data missing for that variable.
↵* By design, patients without insurance or who were up to date on breast cancer and colorectal cancer screening were excluded from the study.
NA, not applicable.

Table 2. Baseline Characteristics of Patients Past Due for Colorectal Cancer Screening By Intervention Group

Characteristics	Intervention			P Value
Characteristics	Group 1 (Letter) (n = 198)	Group 2 (Automated Phone Call) (n = 199)	Group 3 (Letter and Automated Phone Call) (n = 203)	P Value
Sex				.7824
Female	62.63 (124)	63.3 (126)	60.1 (122)
Male	37.4 (74)	36.7 (73)	39.9 (81)
Age (years)				.2677
50–59	64.1 (127)	68.3 (136)	60.6 (123)
≥60	35.9 (71)	31.7 (63)	39.4 (80)
Race/ethnicity				.7464
Non-Hispanic black	14.6 (28)	13.0 (25)	12.4 (25)
Other (eg, Hispanic)	7.3 (14)	10.4 (20)	7.5 (15)
Non-Hispanic white	78.1 (150)	76.6 (147)	80.1 (161)
Household income				.3797
≥$40,000	53.5 (106)	58.1 (115)	55.0 (111)
$30,000-$39,000	28.8 (57)	21.7 (43)	22.3 (45)
<$30,000	17.7 (35)	20.2 (40)	22.8 (46)
Insurance				.4658
Private	61.1 (121)	62.8 (125)	68.5 (139)
Medicaid	12.1 (24)	14.1 (28)	9.8 (20)
Medicare	26.8 (53)	23.1 (46)	21.7 (44)
Preintervention screening rates	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	NA

Data are % (n). Small discrepancies between the total number of patients in a group and the summed numbers in the columns reflect data missing for that variable.
* By design, patients without insurance or who were up to date on breast cancer and colorectal cancer screening were excluded from the study.
NA, not applicable.

Table 3. Unadjusted and Adjusted Postintervention Breast and Colorectal Cancer Screening Rates^*

↵* By definition, preintervention screening rates for each randomization group were 0% for both mammography and colorectal cancer screening.
↵† Screening rate adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, income, and insurance.
↵‡ P values are for the single vs combined intervention.