Workplace colorectal cancer-screening awareness programs: an adjunct to primary care practice?

Although regular screening can decrease morbidity and mortality from colorectal cancer, screening rates nationwide are suboptimal due to a lack of organized screening programs. Since workplace colorectal cancer-awareness programs can potentially mitigate both patient and physician barriers to screening, we assessed the workplace as a venue for implementing a colorectal cancer screening-awareness program. In this cross-sectional study, 3756 members of the Toronto Police Service attended an education session about colorectal cancer; 965 of these members gave their informed consent and completed a 5-item colorectal cancer risk-assessment questionnaire. Nearly one-third (30.9%, or 298/965) of this relatively young population (83.1%, or 802/965, < 50 years of age) were at average or above-average risk for colorectal cancer. In the Toronto Police Service population, the workplace was a useful adjunct to reliance on primary care physicians to raise awareness about this important public health issue. These findings should encourage the development of further Canadian workplace colorectal cancer-screening awareness programs.