HOME HELP CONTACT US SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Rapid Responses: Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Rapid Responses are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Wittink, M. N. Articles by Bogner, H. R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Wittink, M. N. Articles by Bogner, H. R.

Primary Care Physicians’ Assessments of Older Patients’ Health and Psychological Status and Recommendation of Mammography

From the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Correspondence: Corresponding author: Marsha N. Wittink, MD, MBE, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, The University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, 2 Gates Building, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (E-mail: wittinkm{at}uphs.upenn.edu)

Background: Recommendation of mammography may be particularly important for older women; nevertheless, physicians are less likely to recommend mammography to older women. Our objective was to examine the characteristics of older patients for whom primary care physicians recommend mammography.

Methods: Two hundred sixteen women aged 65 to 80 years were screened for depressive symptoms in primary care offices and invited to participate. They then completed a baseline in-home assessment between 2001 and 2003. At the time of the baseline in-home assessment, mammogram use and psychological status were assessed with commonly used and validated standard questionnaires. At the time of the index visit, physicians were asked to provide assessments of the patients.

Results: Patient-reported physician recommendation of mammography was more likely among patients the physicians rated as anxious than among patients the physicians rated as not being anxious (unadjusted odds ratio, 2.08; 95% confidence interval, 1.10–3.94). In multivariate models that controlled for physician ratings of knowledge of the patient, the association between physician rating of anxiety with patient-reported physician recommendation of mammography remained significant. Patient-reported physician recommendation of mammography was not significantly more likely among patients the physicians rated as depressed than among patients the physicians rated as not being depressed (unadjusted odds ratio, 1.57; 95% confidence interval, 0.86–2.85).

Conclusions: Identification of anxiety may influence the recommendation of mammography among primary care physicians. An understanding of factors that influence the recommendation of mammography by primary care physicians may have important implications for interventions to improve rates of mammography use among older women.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. A. Bowman and A. V. Neale North American Primary Care Research Group President's Award J Am Board Fam Med, January 1, 2008; 21(1): 1 - 3. [Full Text] [PDF]