Guidelines recommend primary care physicians (PCPs) offer patients a choice of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening methods, including colonoscopy and fecal occult blood tests (FOBT). However, in countries like the USA and Switzerland, patients are screened almost exclusively with colonoscopy. When offered both tests, patients appear as likely to choose one as the other; the predominance of colonoscopy may largely be explained by physician preference and local medical culture. Offering only colonoscopy might explain why screening rates are low.
We sought to determine the proportions of patients who opted for screening with colonoscopy or FOBT and who refused testing among 50–75 year olds eligible for screening at a PCP visit. We described variation in care between PCPs and tried to identify PCP-level factors associated with testing method and refusal.