TY - JOUR T1 - Impact of cognitive impairment on screening mammography use in older US women. JF - Am J Public Health Y1 - 2010 A1 - Kala M. Mehta A1 - Kathy Z Fung A1 - Christine E Kistler A1 - Chang, Anna A1 - Louise C Walter KW - Aged KW - Aged, 80 and over KW - Cognition Disorders KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Incidence KW - Longitudinal Studies KW - Mammography KW - Medicare KW - Patient Acceptance of Health Care KW - Social Class KW - United States AB -

OBJECTIVES: We evaluated mammography rates for cognitively impaired women in the context of their life expectancies, given that guidelines do not recommend screening mammography in women with limited life expectancies because harms outweigh benefits.

METHODS: We evaluated Medicare claims for women aged 70 years or older from the 2002 wave of the Health and Retirement Study to determine which women had screening mammography. We calculated population-based estimates of 2-year screening mammography prevalence and 4-year survival by cognitive status and age.

RESULTS: Women with severe cognitive impairment had lower rates of mammography (18%) compared with women with normal cognition (45%). Nationally, an estimated 120,000 screening mammograms were performed among women with severe cognitive impairment despite this group's median survival of 3.3 years (95% confidence interval = 2.8, 3.7). Cognitively impaired women who had high net worth and were married had screening rates approaching 50%.

CONCLUSIONS: Although severe cognitive impairment is associated with lower screening mammography rates, certain subgroups with cognitive impairment are often screened despite lack of probable benefit. Given the limited life expectancy of women with severe cognitive impairment, guidelines should explicitly recommend against screening these women.

PB - 100 VL - 100 IS - 10 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20075325?dopt=Abstract U2 - PMC2936976 U4 - Cognition Disorders/Mammography/Medicare ER -