Many senior citizens may needlessly undergo colonoscopy procedures, says a new study from researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston.
The colorectal cancer screening procedure is recommended by the American College of Physicians for adults between the ages of 50 and 75 once every ten years, depending on family history and risk factors.
For the study, lead researcher Kristin M. Sheffield and her team reviewed Medicare claims for colonoscopies in the state of Texas between 2008 and 2009. They found that of the 168,080 patients reviewed, as many as one quarter may have had colonoscopies that fall beyond recommended standards.
“The colonoscopists with percentages significantly above the mean were more likely to be surgeons, graduates of US medical schools, medical school graduates before 1990, and higher-volume colonoscopists than those with percentages significantly below the mean,” the authors wrote.
by RTT Staff Writer
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