1. Home>
2. Specialties>
3. General Medicine>
4. Summary and Comment

PHYSICIAN PREFERENCES FOR CANCER SCREENING.

Guidelines for cancer screening vary considerably; those of the American Cancer Society (ACS), for example, tend to be more aggressive than those of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). This survey asked several thousand physicians about their own preferences for cancer screening.

A large majority of physicians favored three procedures that are uniformly recommended by various organizations: yearly breast exams for women over 40 (81 percent), annual mammography for women over 50 (72 percent), and regular Pap smears for women over 18 (81 percent). However, only 51 percent endorsed annual or biennial mammography for women age 40 to 49, possibly because of the lack of consensus among organizations. Nevertheless, annual fecal occult blood testing and flexible sigmoidoscopy every few years (recommended by the ACS but not the USPSTF) were favored by 83 and 62 percent of physicians, respectively. A surprising 70 percent endorsed periodic screening chest x-rays, which are not recommended by any group.

Comment: This survey reflects only the stated preferences of respondents, not their actual practices. Still, it suggests that many physicians favor more aggressive screening, regardless of the degree of consensus among major groups.

— AS Brett

Published in Journal Watch General Medicine April 5, 1994

Citation(s):

Czaja R et al. Preferences of community physicians for cancer screening guidelines. Ann Intern Med 1994 Apr 1 120 602-608.

• Original article (Subscription may be required)
• Medline abstract (Free)