Background: Presently, the level of participation in screening programs for colorectal cancer (CRC) with Fecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) is considerably low.

Objective: To investigate factors associated with participation in CRC screening using a FIT in the Thai population age 45 to 74 years in the Namphong District of Khon Kaen Province.

Materials and Methods: In the present study, the unmatched case-control study design was applied. Three hundred ten participants were equally divided into two groups with 155 participants in the study group and the other 155 in the control group. The data were collected by conducting interviews. Moreover, to explain the association between the factors, multiple logistic regressions were used with adjusted odds ratio (ORadj), a confidence level at 95%, and with p<0.05.

Results: It was found that ages were equal to or higher than 60 years (ORadj 2.08; 95%CI 1.19 to 3.63), the lower education level (ORadj 3.70; 95% CI 1.86 to 7.33), a family history of cancer (ORadj 5.25; 95% CI 2.14 to 12.86), receiving advice from public health officials regarding CRC screening (ORadj 3.09; 95% CI 1.81 to 5.27), and high level of knowledge about CRC (ORadj 4.01; 95% CI 2.09 to 7.69) had all been related to participation in the CRC screening program with a statistical significance (p<0.05).

Conclusion: The results revealed that receiving advice from public health officials regarding CRC screening and that proper knowledge had been related to participation in screening programs for CRC with the FIT. Thus, to raise awareness and create a greater understanding, public health officers should disseminate knowledge about CRC. Information about the colorectal screening with the FIT should especially be spread to those people who are younger than 60 years of age, have educational levels higher than the primary level, and to those, who have no family history of CRC.

Keywords: Colorectal Cancer Screening; Fecal Immunochemical Test (FIT); Thai population

DOI: doi.org/10.35755/jmedassocthai.2021.07.11904

Received 11 May 2021 | Revised 17 June 2021 | Accepted 17 June 2021