A new study by researchers at NewYork – Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center indicates blacks and Hispanics are at significantly higher risk of developing precancerous colorectal polyps compared with whites, according to a news release.
The study's findings appear in the online edition of Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
The researchers looked at polyps 10 mm or larger that exhibited aggressive features under microscopic examination. They analyzed data from more than 5,000 men and women age 50 or older who underwent first-time colonoscopy at NewYork – Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center from 2006-2010. The study population was 70 percent white, 18 percent Hispanic, and 12 percent black. At least one adenoma was detected in 19 percent of whites, 22 percent of Hispanics, and 26 percent of blacks, the researchers reported.
The study also found that blacks and Hispanics have a higher risk of developing polyps in the upper portion of the colon. "These lesions would have been missed had these patients undergone sigmoidoscopy, which examines only the lower half of the colon," said lead author Benjamin Lebwohl, MD, MS, assistant professor of clinical medicine and epidemiology at NewYork – Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center and Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, in the release. "Therefore, colonoscopy, which examines the entire colon, may be preferable to sigmoidoscopy as a screening test for blacks and Hispanics."
The research paper is titled "Risk of colorectal adenomas and advanced neoplasia in Hispanic, black and white patients undergoing screening colonoscopy."
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