A positive screening for colorectal cancer can lead to thousands of excess clinic visits, according to a study involving nearly 500,000 individuals. Participants ranged between 50 and 75 years of age and were screened for colorectal cancer between 2007 and 2011. Investigators looked at how a positive test impacted outpatient primary care visit use over the next year. Among the results:

• Overall, in the year after the screening, use increased by 0.60 clinic visits.
• For those who were diagnosed with colorectal cancer, use increased by 3 clinic visits.
• It increased by only 0.36 visits for patients treated with polypectomy who had no neoplasia, and by only 0.17 for those with a normal examination.
• Patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer were more than 7 times more likely to have increased visits, vs those with true-negative results.
• Those with true-positive results, polypectomy/no neoplasia, and normal examination were also more likely to have increased visits.