The two studies, published in the August issue of JAMA Internal Medicine, examine the pros and cons of the current cancer screening methodologies.
Screening older patients for cancer provided minimal benefit at considerable cost and increased use of invasive procedures, reported investigators in two separate studies.
Screening rates for four types of cancer declined as a patient's mortality risk increased, but 31% to 55% of patients with a high mortality risk continued to be screened for prostate, breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers. Evidence of inappropriate use of screening tests -- such as Pap tests for women who had undergone hysterectomy -- also emerged from the analysis involving 27,404 patients, ages 65 and over.
"A substantial proportion of the U.S. population with limited life expectancy received prostate, breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening that is unlikely to provide net benefit," Ronald C. Chen, MD, MPH, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues concluded in an article published online in JAMA Internal Medicine.
"These results raise concerns about overscreening in these individuals, which not only increases healthcare expenditures but can lead to patient net harm," Chen's group wrote.
Link to the journal issue: http://bit.ly/IZGqPC
Read the report here: http://bit.ly/1mibc44
Source: medpage Today
FDA Approves Tislelizumab for Advanced or Metastatic ESCC After Chemotherapy
March 15th 2024The FDA has approved tislelizumab-jsgr (Tevimbra) for single-agent use in adult patients with unresectable or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma following prior systemic chemotherapy that did not include a PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor.
Read More
Navigating Health Literacy, Social Determinants, and Discrimination in National Health Plans
February 13th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the February 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on how health plans can screen for health literacy, social determinants of health, and perceived health care discrimination.
Listen
Navigating the Mental Health Challenges of Cancer Diagnosis, Treatment, and Survivorship
March 12th 2024Stress has potential links to worse outcomes in cancer, such as decreased quality of life and greater risks of disease progression and metastasis. There is a complex mix of emotions patients with cancer experience.
Read More
Oncology Onward: A Conversation With Penn Medicine's Dr Justin Bekelman
December 19th 2023Justin Bekelman, MD, director of the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation, sat with our hosts Emeline Aviki, MD, MBA, and Stephen Schleicher, MD, MBA, for our final episode of 2023 to discuss the importance of collaboration between academic medicine and community oncology and testing innovative cancer care delivery in these settings.
Listen
President Biden will preview his plan to more than double the size of Medicare’s new drug price negotiation program in the upcoming State of the Union address; Mexicans and Central Americans were most affected by the pandemic in terms of all-cause mortality; two Alabama fertility clinics said they expect to resume in vitro fertilization (IVF) services after a bill was passed to protect doctors.
Read More