Table 1. Descriptive statistics and colorectal cancer screening rates as a function of ethnicity and colorectal cancer test use* from the 2005 California Health Interview Survey among those aged 50 years and older (N=18,304).
| Mexican American N=1,529 |
Non-Latino White N=16,775 |
P | Never Had Endoscopy or FOBT N=4,155 |
Ever Had Both or One CRC Test N=14,149 |
P | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Participant Characteristics | Mean | |||||
| Age (years) | 61.7 | 64.5 | <.01 | 60.13 | 65.33 | <.01 |
| Percent | ||||||
| Sex (male) | 47.8 | 46.4 | 0.38 | 46.3 | 46.8 | 0.73 |
| Ethnicity (non-Latino white) | – | – | – | 71.8 | 87.4 | <.01 |
| High school diploma | 46.7 | 93.5 | <.01 | 77.3 | 88.6 | <.01 |
| Percent living above federal poverty level | 74.0 | 96.0 | <.01 | 87.4 | 94.1 | <.01 |
| Urban resident | 89.8 | 82.0 | <.01 | 83.1 | 83.4 | 0.74 |
| Usual source of health care | 90.1 | 96.0 | <.01 | 86.8 | 97.8 | <.01 |
| Had health insurance† | 79.4 | 94.5 | <.01 | 81.6 | 95.5 | <.01 |
| Saw doctor in the past year | 84.7 | 89.7 | <.01 | 76.8 | 93.0 | <.01 |
| Doctor recommended endoscopy‡ | 14.0 | 25.6 | <.01 | 17.8 | 28.8 | <.01 |
| Doctor recommended FOBT‡ | 5.3 | 5.3 | 0.98 | 4.3 | 5.9 | <.01 |
| Good health status§ | 55.4 | 80.2 | <.01 | 73.6 | 76.9 | <.01 |
| Five or more fruits and vegetables/day | 44.6 | 49.8 | <.01 | 45.7 | 50.0 | <.01 |
| Regular physical activity | 28.7 | 30.3 | 0.22 | 26.8 | 31.1 | <.01 |
| Non-smoker | 88.6 | 87.4 | 0.28 | 81.1 | 89.8 | <.01 |
| Language Barriers | ||||||
| Only English spoken at home | 18.6 | 89.6 | <.01 | 68.1 | 81.1 | <.01 |
| Limited English proficient‖ | 45.4 | 0.4 | <.01 | 22.6 | 8.3 | <.01 |
| Difficulty understanding doctor | 5.5 | 2.1 | <.01 | 3.3 | 2.5 | 0.09 |
| Doctor spoke another language ঠ| 82.2 | 48.3 | <.01 | 69.7 | 55.3 | 0.04 |
| Needed someone to understand doctor ‡# | 66.5 | 19.9 | <.01 | 48.6 | 29.9 | 0.03 |
Includes Mexican American and non-Latino white Californian adults aged 50 and older who had not been diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
Had health insurance all last year vs. those who had no health insurance or had health insurance part of last year.
Not entered into logistic regression due to small sample size.
Good, very good, and excellent health status vs. fair and poor health status.
Speaks no English in the home or does not speak it well vs speaks only English or speaks it well or very well.
Of those who said they had difficulty understanding the doctor, the percent who said it was because the doctor spoke a different language.
Of those who said they had difficulty understanding the doctor, the percent who said they needed someone else to help understand the doctor.