Clinical question: How do elderly patients feel about discontinuing cancer screening, and how should their doctors communicate this topic to them?
Background: Subjecting patients with limited life expectancy to cancer screening can cause harm, but patient preference on the subject and the manner physicians communicate this recommendation is unknown.
Dr. Aveena Kochar
Study design: Qualitative study.
Setting: Four programs associated with an urban academic center.
Synopsis: Through interviews, questionnaires, and medical records of 40 community-dwelling adults, over the age of 65, the study found that participants support discontinuing cancer screening based on individual health status. Participants preferred that physicians use health and functional status rather than risks and benefits of test or life expectancy. They do not understand the predictors of life expectancy, are doubtful of physicians’ ability to predict it, and feel discussing it is depressing. While participants were divided on whether the term “life expectancy” should be used, they preferred “this test will not extend your life” to “you may not live long enough to benefit from this test.”
The study is limited to one center with participants with high levels of trust in their established physician which may not reflect other patients. The study required self-reporting and thus is susceptible to recall bias. Decisions of hypothetical examples could be discordant with actual decisions a participant might make.
Bottom line: Elderly patients are amenable to stopping cancer screening when communicated by their established physician and prefer to not discuss life expectancy.
Citation: Schoenborn NL, Lee K, Pollack CE, et.al. Older adults’ views and communication preferences about cancer screening and cessation. JAMA Intern Med. 2017; 2017 Jun 12. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.1778.
Dr. Kochar is hospitalist and assistant professor of medicine, Icahn School of Medicine of the Mount Sinai Health System.