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Tracy Hampton, PhD

JAMA. 2006;296:1458.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Many individuals in the United States do not know the appropriate age at which cancer screening examinations should be initiated, according to a survey conducted by the National Cancer Institute.

The 2005 Health Information National Trends Survey (http://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/hints), a telephone survey of the general population, revealed that 57% of US women are unaware that they should receive mammograms beginning at age 40 years to screen for breast cancer. Nonetheless, three quarters of women reported that their clinicians had recommended mammograms and 74% reported having received a mammogram within the recommended time frame.

The survey also found that 54% of respondents did know that screening for colorectal cancer is recommended for men and women aged 50 years or older, but 40% could not name one of the tests available to screen for this disease.

Knowledge of screening recommendations varied by race and ethnicity. For example, 79% . . . [Full Text of this Article]