ATLANTA - Health officials say more older Americans are getting tested for colon cancer, with nearly two out of three getting recommended screenings. Meanwhile, breast cancer screening rates remain stuck on a higher plateau.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Tuesday comes from a 2008 national telephone survey. It's the most recent government data on how many people get checked for two kinds of cancer.
Close to two-thirds of adults over 50 say they've been tested for colon cancer, up from about half in 2002.
About eight of 10 women say they'd had a mammogram in the previous two years, as experts recommend. The rate has been about the same since 2000.