Project description:ImportanceEvidence on the relative benefits and harms of primary high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) testing is needed to inform guidelines.ObjectiveTo inform the US Preventive Services Task Force by modeling the benefits and harms of various cervical cancer screening strategies.Design, setting, and participantsMicrosimulation model of a hypothetical cohort of women initiating screening at age 21 years.ExposuresScreening with cytology, hrHPV testing, and cytology and hrHPV cotesting, varying age to switch from cytology to hrHPV testing or cotesting (25, 27, 30 years), rescreening interval (3, 5 years), and triage options for hrHPV-positive results (16/18 genotype, cytology testing). Current guidelines-based screening strategies comprised cytology alone every 3 years starting at age 21 years, with or without a switch to cytology and hrHPV cotesting every 5 years from ages 30 to 65 years. Complete adherence for all 19 strategies was assumed.Main outcomes and measuresLifetime number of tests, colposcopies, disease detection, false-positive results, cancer cases and deaths, life-years, and efficiency ratios expressing the trade-off of harms (ie, colposcopies, tests) vs benefits (life-years gained, cancer cases averted). Efficient strategies were those that yielded more benefit and less harm than another strategy or a lower harm to benefit ratio than a strategy with less harms.ResultsCompared with no screening, all modeled cervical cancer screening strategies were estimated to result in substantial reductions in cancer cases and deaths and gains in life-years. The effectiveness of screening across the different strategies was estimated to be similar, with primary hrHPV-based and alternative cotesting strategies having slightly higher effectiveness and greater harms than current guidelines-based cytology testing. For example, cervical cancer deaths associated with the guidelines-based strategies ranged from 0.30 to 0.76 deaths per 1000 women, whereas new strategies involving primary hrHPV testing or cotesting were associated with fewer cervical cancer deaths, ranging from 0.23 to 0.29 deaths per 1000 women. In all analyses, primary hrHPV testing strategies occurring at 5-year intervals were efficient. For example, 5-year primary hrHPV testing (cytology triage) based on switching from cytology to hrHPV screening at ages 30 years, 27 years, and 25 years had ratios per life-year gained of 73, 143, and 195 colposcopies, respectively. In contrast, strategies involving 3-year hrHPV testing had much higher ratios, ranging from 2188 to 3822 colposcopies per life-year gained. In most analyses, strategies involving cotesting were not efficient.Conclusions and relevanceIn this microsimulation modeling study, it was estimated that primary hrHPV screening may represent a reasonable balance of harms and benefits when performed every 5 years. Switching from cytology to hrHPV testing at age 30 years yielded the most efficient harm to benefit ratio when using colposcopy as a proxy for harms.

Project description:Recently, health screening recommendations have gone beyond screening for early-stage, asymptomatic disease to include "screening" for presently experienced health problems and symptoms using self-report questionnaires. We examined recommendations from three major national guideline organizations to determine the consistency of recommendations, identify sources of divergent recommendations, and determine if guideline organizations have identified any direct randomized controlled trial (RCT) evidence for the effectiveness of questionnaire-based screening.We reviewed recommendation statements listed by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care (CTFPHC), the United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UKNSC), and the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) as of 5 September 2016. Eligible recommendations focused on using self-report questionnaires to identify patients with presently experienced health problems or symptoms. Within each recommendation and accompanying evidence review we identified screening RCTs.We identified 22 separate recommendations on questionnaire-based screening, including three CTFPHC recommendations against screening, eight UKNSC recommendations against screening, four USPSTF recommendations in favor of screening (alcohol misuse, adolescent depression, adult depression, intimate partner violence), and seven USPSTF recommendations that did not recommend for or against screening. In the four cases where the USPSTF recommended screening, either the CTFPHC, the UKNSC, or both recommended against. When recommendations diverged, the USPSTF expressed confidence in benefits based on indirect evidence, evaluated potential harms as minimal, and did not consider cost or resource use. CTFPHC and UKNSC recommendations against screening, on the other hand, focused on the lack of direct evidence of benefit and raised concerns about harms to patients and resource use. Of six RCTs that directly evaluated screening interventions, five did not report any statistically significant primary or secondary health outcomes in favor of screening, and one trial reported equivocal results.Only the USPSTF has made any recommendations for screening with questionnaires for presently experienced problems or symptoms. The CTFPHC and UKNSC recommended against screening in all of their recommendations. Differences in recommendations appear to reflect differences in willingness to assume benefit from indirect evidence and different approaches to assessing possible harms and resource consumption. There were no examples in any recommendations of RCTs with direct evidence of improved health outcomes.

Project description:BackgroundThe United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends screening adults for depression in primary care settings when staff-assisted depression management programs are available. This recommendation, however, is based on evidence from depression management programs conducted with patients already identified as depressed, even though screening is intended to identify depressed patients not already recognized or treated. The objective of this systematic review was to evaluate whether there is evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that depression screening benefits patients in primary care, using an explicit definition of screening.MethodsWe re-evaluated RCTs included in the 2009 USPSTF evidence review on depression screening, including only trials that compared depression outcomes between screened and non-screened patients and met the following three criteria: determined patient eligibility and randomized prior to screening; excluded patients already diagnosed with a recent episode of depression or already being treated for depression; and provided the same level of depression treatment services to patients identified as depressed in the screening and non-screening trial arms. We also reviewed studies included in a recent Cochrane systematic review, but not the USPSTF review; conducted a focused search to update the USPSTF review; and reviewed trial registries.ResultsOf the nine RCTs included in the USPSTF review, four fulfilled none of three criteria for a test of depression screening, four fulfilled one of three criteria, and one fulfilled two of three criteria. There were two additional RCTs included only in the Cochrane review, and each fulfilled one of three criteria. No eligible RCTs were found via the updated review.ConclusionsThe USPSTF recommendation to screen adults for depression in primary care settings when staff-assisted depression management programs are available is not supported by evidence from any RCTs that are directly relevant to the recommendation. The USPSTF should re-evaluate this recommendation. Please see related article: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/12/14 REGISTRATION: PROSPERO (#CRD42013004276).

Project description:BackgroundThis systematic review is an update of evidence since the 2002 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation on breast cancer screening.PurposeTo determine the effectiveness of mammography screening in decreasing breast cancer mortality among average-risk women aged 40 to 49 years and 70 years or older, the effectiveness of clinical breast examination and breast self-examination, and the harms of screening.Data sourcesCochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (through the fourth quarter of 2008), MEDLINE (January 2001 to December 2008), reference lists, and Web of Science searches for published studies and Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium for screening mammography data.Study selectionRandomized, controlled trials with breast cancer mortality outcomes for screening effectiveness, and studies of various designs and multiple data sources for harms.Data extractionRelevant data were abstracted, and study quality was rated by using established criteria.Data synthesisMammography screening reduces breast cancer mortality by 15% for women aged 39 to 49 years (relative risk, 0.85 [95% credible interval, 0.75 to 0.96]; 8 trials). Data are lacking for women aged 70 years or older. Radiation exposure from mammography is low. Patient adverse experiences are common and transient and do not affect screening practices. Estimates of overdiagnosis vary from 1% to 10%. Younger women have more false-positive mammography results and additional imaging but fewer biopsies than older women. Trials of clinical breast examination are ongoing; trials for breast self-examination showed no reductions in mortality but increases in benign biopsy results.LimitationStudies of older women, digital mammography, and magnetic resonance imaging are lacking.ConclusionMammography screening reduces breast cancer mortality for women aged 39 to 69 years; data are insufficient for older women. False-positive mammography results and additional imaging are common. No benefit has been shown for clinical breast examination or breast self-examination.

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Screening for depression in primary care: recommendation statement from the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care.

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