Study suggests too many individuals screened for cancer near the end of their lives.

Reuters (8/19, Seaman) reports that research published in JAMA Internal Medicine suggests that too many individuals are being screened for cancer near the end of their lives.

        Bloomberg News (8/19, Ostrow) reports that researchers found that “more than half of men 65 and older who had a very high risk of dying in nine years were screened for prostate cancer, a slow-moving disease.” Nearly “38 percent of older women with a similar life expectancy were screened for breast cancer and 31 percent were screened for cervical cancer despite some having undergone a hysterectomy.”

        Vox (8/19) reports, “Among patients with the shortest life expectancies (about five years), 40 percent had been screened for colorectal cancer.”

        HealthDay (8/19, Reinberg) reports that the researchers did find that “fewer men were screened for prostate cancer and fewer women for cervical cancer in more recent years, compared with 2000.”

        MedPage Today (8/19, Bankhead) reports that a “second study” published in JAMA Internal Medicine “showed that reducing the screening colonoscopy interval from 10 to 5 years would lead to a minimal gain in quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) at a cost exceeding $700,000 per QALY.” Medscape (8/19, Nelson) also covers the story.