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Older Adults Regard Cancer Screenings as Essential

TOP - Daily

Despite a physician’s recommendation to discontinue, many older adults feel they should continue cancer screenings

In a study among the first to investigate older adults’ perceptions regarding instruction to discontinue screenings for breast, colon, prostate, and other cancers, researchers discovered that many older adults hesitate to stop screening for cancer even when the tests may have no benefit or may potentially be harmful.

“In this era of attention to over-testing, there is a growing recognition in the medical community that some older adults are screened for cancer when it is not beneficial or even potentially harmful to that person,” said study leader Alexia Torke, MD, a Regenstrief Institute investigator, an Indiana University (IU) Center for Aging Research scientist, and an assistant professor of medicine at the IU School of Medicine.

Torke and colleagues conducted open-ended interviews with adults who ranged in age from 63 to 90 years and learned that patients considered screening an automatic, recommended, or obligatory action.

According to study results, many older adults continue cancer screenings due to a strong moral obligation. Interviewed adults claimed a physician’s recommendation to stop screening could threaten trust in the doctor or prompt an effort to pursue a second opinion. Government panel recommendations and screening statistics indicating that certain tests may have no benefit for older patients left study participants feeling skeptical.

However, when told that screening does not make sense if it’s likely the burdens (pain, time requirements, or stress) outweigh the benefits, older adults involved in the study responded well.

According to Torke, “If physicians are going to successfully communicate with their older patients about forgoing screening they, as well as other care providers, need to understand how older adults view these screenings.”

The study was published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

Source: Indiana University.