The benefits of mammography screening in women age 80 and older are uncertain. Guidelines encourage physicians to consider life expectancy before screening elderly women and to discuss the risks and benefits of screening with their elderly patients. Despite these recommendations, many elderly women are screened even those in poor health. It is unknown why so many elderly women are choosing to be screened and what factors influence this decision. To determine the accuracy of elderly women's knowledge about screening mammography and factors that influence screening decisions, the applicant proposes a two-phase study. Phase 1 uses qualitative methods to develop a survey about mammography screening decisions in the elderly and phase 2 involves administering the survey to a larger sample of women age 80 and older, using women ages 50-69 as a comparison group. Bivariable analyses and multivariable logistic regression will be performed to compare the accuracy of screening knowledge between elderly and younger patients as well as to determine age differences in the influence of several factors on the decision to be screened. This is the first study to explore very elderly women's approach to decisions about screening mammography.
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| Schonberg, Mara A; Ramanan, Radhika A; McCarthy, Ellen P et al. (2006) Decision making and counseling around mammography screening for women aged 80 or older. J Gen Intern Med 21:979-85 |
