Most patients prefer cancer screenings—even when the risks top benefits
New research from the University of Missouri (MU) found that patients still prefer having cancer screenings, even when the risks outweigh the benefits.
Guidelines for cancer screenings change, affecting overdiagnosis and false positives that can induce patient anxiety. Researchers, led by Laura Scherer, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology at MU, believe their findings call for better communication and reassurance between patients and clinicians.
"In our studies, we wanted to see whether the public would be as enthusiastic about cancer screenings even if the harms unambiguously outweighed the benefits," Scherer said in a prepared statement.
Scherer and colleagues conducted two online studies that asked participants whether they wanted to receive a hypothetical cancer screening for breast or prostate cancer (dependent upon a participant's sex) that did not reduce the chances of cancer mortality.
Overall, the team found more than half the participants wanted to receive screenings and more than one-third wanted screening when serious harm was possible.
"According to responses, many people did not believe, even hypothetically, that screening might not save lives. Furthermore, some people in our studies believed that screening provided important health information, and they wanted that information even if it did not save lives," Scherer said.
"The data also suggested that many people wanted health information because they were seeking to address their anxiety and obtain reassurance and our findings show that people have a strong desire to do something to address the threat of cancer and that they would prefer to receive a screening test that does not save lives rather than not be screened at all.”
The findings were recently accepted for publication in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied.
A recent graduate from Dominican University (IL) with a bachelor’s in journalism, Melissa joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering all aspects of health imaging. She’s a fan of singing and playing guitar, elephants, a good cup of tea, and her golden retriever Cooper.