Grant Number:	1R01CA181357-01 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator:	Schonberg, Mara
Organization:	Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Project Title:	Randomized Trial of a Mammography Decision Aid for Women Aged 75 and Older
Fiscal Year:	2014

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Women aged 75 and older are the fastest growing segment of the US population. Yet, none of the mammography screening trials included women over age 75, and it is not clear whether mammography results in a mortality benefit for these women. While the benefits of mammography are uncertain, particularly for older women with short life expectancies, there are important harms to screening including: pain and anxiety related to the test, complications from additional tests after a false positive mammogram (e.g., breast biopsy), and overdiagnosis (diagnosis of tumors that are no threat in one's lifetime). Overdiagnosis is particularly concerning since risks of breast cancer treatment increase with age. Guidelines state that there is insufficient evidence to recommend mammography for women >75 years and recommend that older women be informed of the uncertainty of benefit and potential for harm. They further encourage clinicians to consider patient health and life expectancy before offering screening. Meanwhile, Medicare covers annual mammograms for all women >65 years and many older women are screened regardless of their life expectancy. Thus, few older women are informed of harms of mammography and most overestimate the benefits. To improve older women's decision- making around mammography screening, we developed and pilot tested a mammography screening decision aid (DA) for women >75 years. The DA, a self-administered, easy-to-read, pamphlet, includes information on outcomes of screening, breast cancer risk, health and life expectancy, competing mortality risks, and a values clarification exercise. Our pilot pretest/posttest trial of the DA included 49 women >75 years (range 75-86 years) from a large Boston academic primary care practice and found that the DA improved knowledge, decreased decisional conflict, reduced intentions to be screened, and led to more balanced mammography discussions with their physician. We, a team of internists, geriatricians, and a psychologist, now propose a large randomized controlled trial (RCT) of the DA to definitively evaluate its efficacy. We aim to show that the DA improves older women's knowledge of the pros and cons of mammography, decreases decisional conflict, and reduces screening intentions, particularly for women with <7 year life expectancy. We also aim to show that the DA leads to increased chart documentation of balanced mammography discussions and reduces screening, particularly for women with <7 year life expectancy. We will recruit from an academic primary care and geriatrics practice in Boston, 3 Boston area community practices, and an academic and community practice in North Carolina. We plan to randomize 520 women ages 75-89 years to the DA (intervention arm) or an educational pamphlet on home safety for older adults (control arm). It is essential that we test our DA in a large RCT to know if it is truly effective. Such compelling RCT data are needed to support second-order translation (research to clinical practice) of the DA nationally within primary care. Our DA has the potential to improve older women's mammography screening decisions, thereby improving their care and quality of life.




Effects by educational attainment of a mammography screening patient decision aid for women aged 75 years and older.
Authors: Cadet T. , Pinheiro A. , Karamourtopoulos M. , Jacobson A.R. , Aliberti G.M. , Kistler C.E. , Davis R.B. , Schonberg M.A. .
Source: Cancer, 2021-08-10 00:00:00.0; , .
EPub date: 2021-08-10 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 34374430
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Modifying a Mammography Decision Aid for Older Adult Women with Risk Factors for Low Health Literacy.
Authors: Cadet T. , Aliberti G. , Karamourtopoulos M. , Jacobson A. , Siska M. , Schonberg M.A. .
Source: Health Literacy Research And Practice, 2021 Apr; 5(2), p. e78-e90.
EPub date: 2021-04-13 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 34213995
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Evaluation of a mammography decision aid for women 75 and older at risk for lower health literacy in a pretest-posttest trial.
Authors: Cadet T. , Aliberti G. , Karamourtopoulos M. , Jacobson A. , Gilliam E.A. , Primeau S. , Davis R. , Schonberg M.A. .
Source: Patient Education And Counseling, 2021-02-15 00:00:00.0; , .
EPub date: 2021-02-15 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 33637391
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Association between Breast Cancer Screening Intention and Behavior in the Context of Screening Cessation in Older Women.
Authors: Schoenborn N.L. , Pinheiro A. , Kistler C.E. , Schonberg M.A. .
Source: Medical Decision Making : An International Journal Of The Society For Medical Decision Making, 2021 02; 41(2), p. 240-244.
EPub date: 2021-01-13 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 33435829
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Decision Aids and the Absence of Expected Longevity Benefits of Mammography Screening in Women 75 Years and Older-Reply.
Authors: Schonberg M.A. , Hamel M.B. , Kistler C.E. .
Source: Jama Internal Medicine, 2020-12-01 00:00:00.0; 180(12), p. 1714-1715.
PMID: 32926157
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Effect of a Mammography Screening Decision Aid for Women 75 Years and Older: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.
Authors: Schonberg M.A. , Kistler C.E. , Pinheiro A. , Jacobson A.R. , Aliberti G.M. , Karamourtopoulos M. , Hayes M. , Neville B.A. , Lewis C.L. , Wee C.C. , et al. .
Source: Jama Internal Medicine, 2020-06-01 00:00:00.0; 180(6), p. 831-842.
PMID: 32310288
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Primary Care-Based Staff Ideas for Implementing a Mammography Decision Aid for Women 75+: a Qualitative Study.
Authors: Schonberg M.A. , Jacobson A.R. , Aliberti G.M. , Hayes M. , Hackman A. , Karamourtopolous M. , Kistler C. .
Source: Journal Of General Internal Medicine, 2019 11; 34(11), p. 2414-2420.
EPub date: 2019-09-04 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 31485969
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Source: Annals Of Emergency Medicine, 2019 Aug; 74(2), p. 276-284.
EPub date: 2019-02-13 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 30770207
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Epidemiology and Implementation of Cancer Prevention in Disparate Populations and Settings.
Authors: Lopez A.M. , Hudson L. , Vanderford N.L. , Vanderpool R. , Griggs J. , Schonberg M. .
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EPub date: 2019-05-17 00:00:00.0.
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Cultural and emotional determinants of cervical cancer screening among older Hispanic women.
Authors: Cadet T.J. , Burke S.L. , Stewart K. , Howard T. , Schonberg M. .
Source: Health Care For Women International, 2017 Dec; 38(12), p. 1289-1312.
EPub date: 2017-08-21 00:00:00.0.
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Cancer Screening of Older Adults in Israel According to Life Expectancy: Cross Sectional Study.
Authors: Bareket R. , Schonberg M.A. , Comaneshter D. , Schonmann Y. , Shani M. , Cohen A. , Vinker S. .
Source: Journal Of The American Geriatrics Society, 2017 Nov; 65(11), p. 2539-2544.
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Source: Journal Of Clinical Oncology : Official Journal Of The American Society Of Clinical Oncology, 2017-09-20 00:00:00.0; 35(27), p. 3123-3130.
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Predicting Mortality Up To 14 Years Among Community-dwelling Adults Aged 65 And Older
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Decision-making Regarding Mammography Screening For Older Women
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Source: Journal Of The American Geriatrics Society, 2016 Dec; 64(12), p. 2413-2418.
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Discussing Long-term Prognosis in Primary Care: Hard but Necessary.
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Mammography screening for women aged 70 and older: at a crossroads.
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