With all the juggling people have to do just to fit in all the holiday parties -- not to mention birthday celebrations -- you'd assume scheduling a cancer screening would be at the bottom of most everyone's list. And, you'd be dead wrong too, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal late last year.

Nearly 13,000 out of some 21,000 Norwegian Baby Boomers (about 65 percent) attended randomly assigned appointments for colorectal cancer screenings, with researchers paying close attention to the timing of these appointments in relation to the week and month of a patient's birthday.

By far, December proved to be the month more people attended their cancer screenings than any other time, with a 72 percent compliance rate versus 64 percent for the remaining 11 months. What's more, patients followed through more than two-thirds of the time on their screening appointments when receiving invitations during the week of their birthdays or when they were assigned to screenings up to two weeks after their birthday.

Just another reminder to take care of your health and sidestep needless stress during the holiday season.

British Medical Journal, Vol. 337, No. 7684, December 20, 2008 Free Full Text Study

ScienceDaily December 17, 2008