Patient perceptions of stool DNA testing for pan-digestive cancer screening: A survey questionnaire

Table 1 Demographics and baseline characteristics of sample population n (%)

Characteristics	Value
Age (yr)
50-59	122 (28.6)
60-69	159 (37.2)
70-79	146 (34.2)
Sex
Female	225 (51.8)
Male	209 (48.6)
Race/ethnicity
White	424 (98.4)
Non-white	7 (1.6)
Education
Some high school	11 (2.6)
High school graduate or GED	108 (25.2)
Vocational, technical or business school	40 (9.3)
Some college or associate’s degree	98 (22.9)
4-yr college graduate or Bachelor’s degree	76 (18.8)
Graduate or professional school	95 (22.2)
Region
Minnesota	251 (57.8)
Other	183 (42.2)
Positive personal history of cancer
Aero-digestive cancer1	38 (8.8)
Other2	152 (35.0)
No	244 (56.2)
Positive familial history of cancer
Yes	278 (66.8)
No	125 (30.0)
Not sure	13 (3.1)
CRC screening history
Yes	355 (84.9)
No	50 (12.0)
Not sure	13 (3.1)
Personal concern with cancer3
Yes	311 (73.5)
No	112 (26.5)

¹Includes responses from subjects who specified they had been diagnosed with cancer from any of the following: lung, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, colon or rectum;

²Includes responses from subjects who specified they had been diagnosed with cancer from any of the following: breast, prostate, skin (melanoma only), or specified as other.

³Defined as subjects who responded ''all the time” or “often” when asked how often they worry about getting one or all of the following cancers: lung, breast, colon or rectal, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, prostate. GED: General equivalent diploma; CRC: Colorectal cancer.

Table 2 Likelihood of using multi-organ stool-DNA test

Characteristic (n)	Very likely	Likely	Unlikely	Very unlikely	Not sure	P value1
Age (yr)
50-59 (121)	69.4%	25.6%	3.3%	1.7%	0.0%	0.56
60-69 (157)	82.2%	15.3%	1.3%	0.0%	1.2%
70-79 (145)	75.2%	20.7%	2.1%	0.0%	2.0%
Sex
Female (219)	76.2%	20.1%	1.8%	0.5%	1.4%	0.89
Male (204)	76.0%	20.0%	2.5%	0.5%	1.0%
Prior CRC screening
Yes (352)	75.6%	20.5%	2.6%	0.6%	0.9%	0.66
No (49)	75.5%	20.4%	0.0%	0.0%	4.1%
Do not know (13)	76.9%	23.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Personal concern with cancer
Yes (311)	79.1%	16.7%	2.6%	0.3%	1.3%	0.48
No (112)	67.9%	29.4%	0.9%	0.9%	0.9%
Respondents2
Early (303)	76.6%	19.1%	3.0%	0.0%	1.3%	0.38
Late (120)	75.0%	22.5%	0.0%	1.7%	0.8%

CRC: Colorectal cancer.

¹χ² test;

²Comparing the likelihood of using a multi-organ stool-DNA test between early and late respondents.

Table 3 Respondents’ rating of test features in multi-organ stool-DNA test and routine screening tool

	Very important	Somewhat important	Not at all important	Not sure
Stool-DNA test
Detects multiple cancers with single test	95.1%	4.2	0.0	0.7
Safe noninvasive test	85.0%	13.3	0.7	1.0
No need for bowel preparation	80.8%	15.7	3.0	0.5
No need for sedation	77.8%	18.7	3.0	0.5
No need to change diet or medications	75.4%	22.0	1.9	0.7
Performed in the privacy of home	73.8%	21.5	4.2	0.5
No need to take time off from work	56.8%	15.2	27.3	0.7
A routine screening tool
Ability of test to detect pre-cancer or change in body before it becomes cancer	96.5%	3.0	0.2	0.2
Accuracy of the test to say there is a cancer when there really is a cancer	94.7%	4.6	0.0	0.7
Accuracy of the test to say there really is no cancer when there is no cancer	93.3%	5.3	0.5	0.9
Whether test is covered by insurance	62.2%	27.7	8.5	1.6
Risk of injury with test	55.6%	31.4	10.2	2.8
How often the test has to be done	34.9%	43.1	19.2	2.8
The cost of the test	34.0%	44.4	17.8	3.8
Use of laxatives and/or enemas for bowel preparation	27.8%	46.5	22.9	2.8
Discomfort associated with the test	24.9%	48.2	24.2	2.6

Table 4 Demographics of early versus late respondents

Characteristics	Early respondents	Late respondents	P value1
Sex			0.040
Female	55.0%	44.0%
Male	45.0%	56.0%
Race/ethnicity			0.400
White	98.7%	97.6%
Non-white	1.3%	2.4%
Education			0.340
Some high school	2.9%	1.6%
High school graduate or GED	25.2%	25.4%
Vocational, technical or business school	10.8%	5.7%
Some college or associate’s degree	23.5%	21.3%
4-year college graduate or Bachelor’s degree	17.7%	18.0%
Graduate or professional school	19.9%	27.9%
Region			0.001
Minnesota	62.8%	45.6%
Other	37.2%	54.4%

¹χ² test. GED: General equivalent diploma.