Background: All relevant authorities recommend an interval of 10 years between normal screening colonoscopies. We assessed the timing of repeated colonoscopies after a negative screening colonoscopy finding in a population-based sample of Medicare patients. Methods: A 5% national sample of Medicare enrollees from 2000 through 2008 was used to identify average-risk patients undergoing screening colonoscopy between 2001 and 2003. Colonoscopy was classified as a negative screening examination finding if no indication other than screening were in the claims and if no biopsy, fulguration, or polypectomy was performed. Time to repeated colonoscopy was calculated. Results: Among 24 071 Medicare patients who had a negative screening colonoscopy finding in 2001 through 2003, 46.2% underwent a repeated examination in fewer than 7 years. In 42.5% of these patients (23.5% of the overall sample), there was no clear indication for the early repeated examination. In patients aged 75 to 79 years or 80 years or older at the time of the initial negative screening colonoscopy result, 45.6% and 32.9%, respectively, received a repeated examination within 7 years. In multivariable analyses, male sex, more comorbidities, and colonoscopy by a high-volume colonoscopist or in an office setting were associated with higher rates of early repeated colonoscopy without clear indication, while those 80 years or older had a reduced risk. There were also marked geographic variations, from less than 5% in some health referral regions to greater than 50% in others. Conclusions: A large proportion of Medicare patients who undergo screening colonoscopy do so more frequently than recommended. Current Medicare regulations intending to limit reimbursement for screening colonoscopy to every 10 years would not appear to be effective.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the extent to which preexisting mental disorders influence diagnosis, treatment, and survival in older adults with colon cancer. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. SETTING The Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)–Medicare linked database. PARTICIPANTS Eighty thousand six hundred seventy participants, aged 67 and older with a diagnosis of colon cancer. MEASUREMENTS The association between the presence of a preexisting mental disorder and the stage of colon cancer at diagnosis, receipt of cancer treatment, and overall and colon cancer-specific mortality were assessed using Cox proportional hazards regression and logistic regression. RESULTS Participants with mental disorders were more likely to have been diagnosed with colon cancer at autopsy (4.4% vs 1.1%; P<.001) and at an unknown stage of cancer (14.6% vs 6.2%; P<.001); to have received no surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy (adjusted risk ratio (ARR) =2.09, 95% confidence interval (CI) =1.86–2.35); and to have received no chemotherapy for Stage 3 cancer (ARR =1.63, 95% CI =1.49–1.79). The rate of overall mortality (hazard ratio (HR) =1.33, 95% CI =1.31–1.36) and colon cancer-specific mortality (HR =1.23, 95% CI =1.19–1.27) was substantially higher in participants with a preexisting mental disorder than in their counterparts. All of these associations were particularly pronounced in participants with psychotic disorders and those with dementia. CONCLUSION Public health initiatives are needed to improve colon cancer detection and treatment in older adults with mental disorders.

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