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Perceived Life Expectancy Is Associated with Colorectal Cancer Screening in England

Kobayashi, LC; Von Wagner, C; Wardle, J; (2017) Perceived Life Expectancy Is Associated with Colorectal Cancer Screening in England. Annals of Behavioral Medicine , 51 (3) pp. 327-336. 10.1007/s12160-016-9855-z. Green open access

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Cancer screening is a behavior that represents investment in future health. Such investment may depend on how much 'future' a person expects. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the prospective association between perceived personal life expectancy and participation in fecal occult blood test screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) in a national program. METHODS: Data were from interviews with 3975 men and women in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) within the eligible age range for the national screening program (60 to 74 years). Perceived life expectancy was indexed as the individual's estimate of their chance of living another 10-15 years (exact time varied by age), assessed in 2008/2009. Participation in CRC screening from 2010 to 2012/2013 was assessed in 2012/2013. Logistic regression was used to estimate the association between perceived life expectancy and screening participation, adjusted for numeracy and known mortality risk factors. RESULTS: Overall, 71% of respondents (2817/3975) reported completing at least one fecal occult blood test (FOBt) during the follow-up. Screening uptake was 76% (1272/1683) among those who estimated their 10-15-year life expectancy as 75-100%, compared with 52% (126/243) among those who estimated theirs as 0-25% (adjusted OR 1.74, 95% CI 1.29-2.34). CONCLUSIONS: A longer perceived life expectancy is associated with greater likelihood of participating in CRC screening in England. However, half of people with a low perceived life expectancy still participated in screening. Given that CRC screening is recommended for adults with a remaining life expectancy of ≥10 years, future research should investigate how to communicate the aims of screening more effectively.

Type: Article
Title: Perceived Life Expectancy Is Associated with Colorectal Cancer Screening in England
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1007/s12160-016-9855-z
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12160-016-9855-z
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © The Author(s) 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Keywords: Behavioral economics, Cancer screening, Colorectal cancer, Fecal occult blood test, Perceived life expectancy
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Behavioural Science and Health
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1531019
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