Search Results for "screening"
5-Star Friday: More screening, more vitamins and more advocacy can only be good, right?
If there’s a common question running through this week’s 5-star Friday, it is this: Is more always better? As someone who has worked in healthcare, my typical answer is that more evidence is certainly better. (As is more listening and empathy, for that matter!) And as someone who reads a fair amount of health care reporting, I would […]
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Is PSA now “OK”? What the task force really said about the evidence on prostate cancer screening
Reading the headlines on the US Preventive Services Task Force’s (USPSTF) update to its prostate cancer screening guidelines, you might come away with the idea that the task force has completely reversed its 2012 recommendation against broad-based prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening. But that would be the wrong impression. What the revised guideline does is make a […]
What you’re not being told about ‘free’ public head and neck cancer screening events
‘Tis the season of oral, head, and neck cancer screenings, with a plethora of free public events taking place at health clinics and hospitals all over the country right now. Judging by the abundant and largely uncritical news coverage, it’s been a major PR win for the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance, which runs the trademarked […]
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Breast cancer and the ballot box: political messages about screening prioritize votes over informed decisions
In late February, the New York Department of Financial Services trumpeted this news to reporters: “Governor Cuomo Announces Action To Expand Cutting-Edge Breast Cancer Screening Options For Women.” The news release noted that New York’s health insurers must cover medically necessary 3-D mammograms without co-pays, coinsurance, and deductibles. The governor called his action “the most […]
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The harms of cancer screening: It’s time to get personal
Can cancer screening be harmful? Among those of us who read or write about screening for our jobs, it’s an easy, emphatic answer: Yes of course it carries potential harms–just like any medical intervention. Yet, the notion that screening might have negative effects isn’t something that the general public hears very often. Instead, we’re confronted with […]
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One key detail you’re unlikely to see in news stories about mammography screening guidelines
In mid-January, there was a flurry of news media activity focusing on breast cancer screening and the problem of overdiagnosis, particularly when breast tumors are benign but treated as if they were deadly. Stories in Forbes, NBC, USA Today, Medscape and Time Magazine covered a Danish study that found up to a third of breast cancers detected via […]
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Do we need more screening for sleep apnea?
Here we go again. To screen or not to screen, that is the question. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPTF), in a report published in last week’s Journal of the American Medical Association, says there is not enough evidence to weigh the benefits and risks of screening for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in adults who don’t […]
WHO exposes deceptive promotion of industry-supported FRAX osteoporosis screening tool
When the World Health Organization (WHO) speaks people usually listen. As the planet’s premier health policy-making body, the WHO influences healthcare and medical practice around the globe. Their expert committees create reports that underpin guidelines, affecting the health care delivered by practitioners on every continent. When the WHO issues a particularly controversial statement, you’d think […]
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‘Zero deaths’ from breast cancer? NBC viewers misinformed by puff piece on screening test
It’s hard to know where to begin with this story from NBC Nightly News about a supposedly “new” test that could be a “lifesaver” for women with dense breasts whose cancer might not show up on a normal mammogram. NBC’s top-rated newscast reaches some 8 million total viewers every night, so it’s important to set […]
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Prostate Week continues: Yale Cancer Center also flouting evidence with public prostate screening event
It’s been a big week for prostate screening news and we’re not finished yet. We fact-checked Donald Trump’s health sit-down with Dr. Oz and explored the misleading messages it produced about prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing. We looked at coverage of a new clinical trial showing that active monitoring in screen-detected early prostate cancer produces outcomes […]
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Despite thumbs down from professional groups, mass prostate cancer screening events continue, often with misleading promotions
Joy Victory is deputy managing editor of HealthNewsReview.org. She tweets as @thejoyvictory. [Editor’s note: Please see the comments section for a response from Roswell Park Cancer Institute and our reply.] It’s hard to know what’s motivating the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y., to hold a prostate cancer screening event later this month, but we know […]
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Missing in action: Did US journalists miss a huge opportunity to critically examine mental health screening?
Last week a guideline recommendation from the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, addressed depression screening in the adult population, with a special emphasis on women who are pregnant or have recently given birth. Maybe it was a lonely day in January, but these simple recommendations generated many headlines and […]
Media case study: PR news release vs. news stories on mammography screenings for older women
If you’re not at least a little bit confused by current mammography guidelines you’re in the minority. And if you’re an elderly woman (75 and up) or a caregiver for one it can be especially daunting to stay on top of the latest recommendations regarding mammogram screenings in later life. Policy makers don’t have as […]
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Ovarian cancer screening: shop for the story emphasis of your choice
Let’s take a brief spin through the choices that news consumers (and patients) can make among a range of stories about a new study on ovarian cancer screening. Should the emphasis be: “Blood test for ovarian cancer saves lives,” as CBS reported? “Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer May Become Possible,” as the New York Times headlined it. […]
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Birds, hares, and tortoises: What do they have to do with the recent news on cancer screening?
The following guest post is by Richard Hoffman, MD, Director of the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine/Iowa City VA Medical Center. Richard is a long-time story reviewer and frequent contributor to the blog. Wouldn’t it be great if, in 2016 and in the future, we saw more […]
