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Delayed diagnosis of gynecologic tumors in elderly women: relation to national medical practice patterns
- Source :
- The American journal of medicine. 86(2)
- Publication Year :
- 1989
-
Abstract
- purpose: To evaluate the hypothesis that less aggressive cancer screening practices might result in later diagnosis of cancer in the elderly, we analyzed the stage of diagnosis of tumors by age in the Connecticut Tumor Registry. patients and methods: Using Registry data from 1960 to 1975 and 1976 to 1983, we compared the proportion of tumors that were diagnosed at a localized stage among white women of various age groups. Thirteen specific tumor sites were analyzed, accounting for 55,688 tumors between 1960 and 1975 and 38,715 tumors between 1976 and 1983. results: Only gynecologic cancers demonstrated a sigificant inverse relationship between the relative proportion of tumors that were diagnosied at a localized stage and advancing patient age during both time periods. Specifically, when the youngest women (aged 25 to 34) were compared with the oldest women (aged 85 and over), between 1960 and 1975, the relative proportion of localized cervical, uterine, and ovarian cancer dropped from 98 percent to 59 percent, 92 percent to 77 percent, and 59 percent to 27 percent, respectively. Similar declines were also seen between the intermediate-age groups, and data from 1976 to 1983 demonstrated identical age-related trends. conclusion: Our study reveals that the probability of diagnosing cancer of the cervix, uterus and ovaries at a localized and potentially curable stage decreases with advancing age. Published national health practice patterns demonstrated a similar age-related decline in gynecologic examinations and Pap smears even after adjustment for the exclusion of women who would have undergone previous hysterectomy. This decreasing use of gynecologic examinations may in part explain the age-related decline in localized gynecologic cancers.
- Subjects :
- Adult
medicine.medical_specialty
Aging
Genital Neoplasms, Female
Office Visits
medicine.medical_treatment
Uterus
Delayed diagnosis
medicine
Humans
Registries
Stage (cooking)
Cervix
Aged
Neoplasm Staging
Gynecology
Aged, 80 and over
Vaginal Smears
Hysterectomy
Obstetrics
business.industry
Medical practice
Cancer
General Medicine
Middle Aged
medicine.disease
Health Surveys
medicine.anatomical_structure
Female
Ovarian cancer
business
Papanicolaou Test
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00029343
- Volume :
- 86
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The American journal of medicine
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....e4d238b08bbc2679d429d4b084b975b6