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Overuse of Colonoscopy for Colorectal Cancer Screening and Surveillance

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ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND

Ongoing efforts to increase colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates have raised concerns that these exams may be overused, thereby subjecting patients to unnecessary risks and wasting healthcare resources.

OBJECTIVE

Our aim was to measure overuse of screening and surveillance colonoscopies among average-risk adults, and to identify correlates of overuse.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

Our approach was a retrospective cohort study using electronic health record data for patients 50–65 years old with no personal history of CRC or colorectal adenomas with an incident CRC screening colonoscopy from 2001 to 2010 within a multispecialty physician group practice.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

We measured time to next screening or surveillance colonoscopy and predictors of overuse (exam performed more than one year earlier than guideline recommended intervals) of colonoscopies.

KEY RESULTS

We identified 1,429 adults who had an incident colonoscopy between 2001 and 2010, and they underwent an additional 871 screening or surveillance colonoscopies during a median follow-up of 6 years. Most follow-up screening colonoscopies (88 %) and many surveillance colonoscopies (49 %) repeated during the study represented overuse. Time to next colonoscopy after incident screening varied by exam findings (no polyp: median 6.9 years, interquartile range [IQR]: 5.1–10.0; hyperplastic polyp: 5.7 years, IQR: 4.9–9.7; low-risk adenoma: 5.1 years, IQR: 3.3–6.3; high-risk adenoma: 2.9 years, IQR: 2.0–3.4, p < 0.001). In logistic regression models of colonoscopy overuse, an endoscopist recommendation for early follow-up was strongly associated with overuse of screening colonoscopy (OR 6.27, 95 % CI: 3.15–12.50) and surveillance colonoscopy (OR 13.47, 95 % CI 6.61-27.46). In a multilevel logistic regression model, variation in the overuse of screening colonoscopy was significantly associated with the endoscopist performing the previous exam.

CONCLUSIONS

Overuse of screening and surveillance exams are common and should be monitored by healthcare systems. Variations in endoscopist recommendations represent targets for interventions to reduce overuse.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Craig Salman (Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates and Atrius Health) for his assistance with data management and analysis, Amy Marston (Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates and Atrius Health) for her project management, and Debby Collins (Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School) for project coordination.

Dr. Kruse had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

The study was supported by the National Cancer Institute R01 CA112367. Dr. Kruse was supported by Health Resources and Services Administration training grant T32HP12706, the Ryoichi Sasakawa Fellowship Fund, and the National Cancer Institute 5R25 CA057711-20.

An earlier version of the manuscript was accepted for presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Society for General Internal Medicine in Denver, Colorado on 26 May 2013 and was named the Top Abstract presented in the category of Quality Improvement/Patient Safety.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest pertaining to this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of General Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Gina R. Kruse MD, MS, MPH

  2. Division of General Medicine and Primary Care, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Sami M. Khan BA, John Z. Ayanian MD, MPP & Thomas D. Sequist MD, MPH

  3. Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Alan M. Zaslavsky PhD, John Z. Ayanian MD, MPP & Thomas D. Sequist MD, MPH

  4. Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    John Z. Ayanian MD, MPP

  5. Partners Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA

    Thomas D. Sequist MD, MPH

  6. 50 Staniford Street, 9th Floor, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Gina R. Kruse MD, MS, MPH

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  1. Gina R. Kruse MD, MS, MPH
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Correspondence to Gina R. Kruse MD, MS, MPH.

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Kruse, G.R., Khan, S.M., Zaslavsky, A.M. et al. Overuse of Colonoscopy for Colorectal Cancer Screening and Surveillance. J GEN INTERN MED 30, 277–283 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-014-3015-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-014-3015-6

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