Do Patients With Colorectal Cancer Understand That Their Family is at Risk?

The purpose of this study is to assess whether patients with colorectal cancer understand that their first-degree relatives are at increased risk of getting the cancer themselves and therefore should be screened early. Among patients who do understand the risks to their family, we plan to determine who they identify as the source of their information and whether they have acted upon this information and advised family members to be screened. We hypothesize that many patients with colorectal cancer do not have a correct understanding of the risks to their first-degree relatives and the recommendations that they be screened early.
If this hypothesis is shown to be true, it can be used to direct improved and more diligent patient education. This, in turn, will hopefully increase the low screening rates among first-degree relatives, and, thereby, save lives in this high-risk population.