Levels and Variation in Overuse of Fecal Occult Blood Testing in the Veterans Health Administration

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Policy-makers have called for efforts to reduce overuse of cancer screening tests, including colorectal cancer screening (CRCS). Overuse of CRCS tests other than colonoscopy has not been well documented. OBJECTIVE To estimate levels and correlates of fecal occult blood test (FOBT...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of general internal medicine : JGIM 2012-12, Vol.27 (12), p.1618-1625
Main Authors: Partin, Melissa R., Powell, Adam A., Bangerter, Ann, Halek, Krysten, Burgess, James F., Fisher, Deborah A., Nelson, David B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Biological and medical sciences
Blood tests
Colonoscopy - statistics & numerical data
Colorectal Neoplasms - diagnosis
Colorectal Neoplasms - epidemiology
Early Detection of Cancer - methods
Early Detection of Cancer - statistics & numerical data
Female
Gastroenterology. Liver. Pancreas. Abdomen
General aspects
Health care
Health Care Surveys
Health Services Misuse - statistics & numerical data
Hospitals, Veterans
Humans
Internal Medicine
Logistic Models
Male
Medical sciences
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Middle Aged
Occult Blood
Odds Ratio
Original Research
Prevention and actions
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Stomach. Duodenum. Small intestine. Colon. Rectum. Anus
Tumors
United States
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Policy-makers have called for efforts to reduce overuse of cancer screening tests, including colorectal cancer screening (CRCS). Overuse of CRCS tests other than colonoscopy has not been well documented. OBJECTIVE To estimate levels and correlates of fecal occult blood test (FOBT) overuse in a national Veterans Health Administration (VHA) sample. DESIGN Observational PARTICIPANTS Participants included 1,844 CRCS-eligible patients who responded to a 2007 CRCS survey conducted in 24 VHA facilities and had one or more FOBTs between 2003 and 2009. MAIN MEASURES We combined survey data on race, education, and income with administrative data on region, age, gender, CRCS procedures, and outpatient visits to estimate overuse levels and variation. We coded FOBTs as overused if they were conducted
ISSN:0884-8734
1525-1497
1525-1497
DOI:10.1007/s11606-012-2163-9