Clinical and demographical factors associated with fertility counseling in colorectal cancer.

Abstract

e24047 Background: The incidence of colorectal cancer in patients younger than 50 has been increasing over the past 2 decades. This demographic shift has important implications for survivorship care, in particular regarding issues of future fertility especially in light of USPSTF’s recommendation for colorectal cancer screening to begin at 45. Although ASCO has longstanding recommendations for fertility counseling in patients with cancer, the rates of fertility counseling in younger patients with colorectal cancer are unknown. Methods: Records for new patient visits for colorectal cancer in patients younger than age 55 in a large academic cancer center between 2012 and 2019 were queried for patient demographics, disease characteristics, and documentation of fertility counseling. Associations between demographic/clinical characteristics and fertility counseling were explored. Univariate and multivariable logistical regression analyses were performed using SAS v9.4. Results: Among 194 patients who met inclusion criteria, 39.2% of patients were female, 10.4% were African American, 31.4% had rectal cancer, and 69.6% were treated with curative intent. Approximately 14.5% of patients had Medicaid insurance. Age ranged from 22-55. The overall rate of fertility counseling among all patients was 15.5%. Of these patients, 43.3% were male. In univariate analysis, age less than or equal to 40 (p < 0.01), female gender (p = 0.03) and curative intent therapy (p = 0.03) were associated with fertility counseling. These factors were again statistically significant in multivariate analysis: age < 40, female, and curative intent therapy (Table). Race, stage of cancer, insurance status, prior exposure to chemotherapy, year of diagnosis and colon vs rectal cancer were not associated with counseling. Conclusions: The rate of fertility counseling was very low among patients with colorectal cancer, and exceptionally low among men. Despite changes in the demographics of colorectal cancer, it does not appear that appropriate changes have been made in fertility counseling. Increases in fertility counseling were not seen in more recent years despite recognition of increasing incidence in younger patients. Additional studies to identify barriers to counseling and strategies to improve survivorship care are urgently needed.[Table: see text]