The persistence of low-value services

Analysis from Health Leaders Media: Turns out, it's not so easy to make wise choices about healthcare. Several new studies find that, even with urging, doctors and patients are having a hard time passing on low-value services, including many identified in the Choosing Wisely campaign.   Not that it should be a surprise. You don't …

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DCIS, female “viagra” and other disturbing women’s health news

Big news in women's health this week. Good news? Depends on how you see it. The NYTimes reports that surgery for early stage not-quite breast cancer is pretty much useless. Not shocking since NCI decided that DCIS shouldn't even be called "cancer." They say, for instance, that some premalignant conditions, like one that affects the …

2 Boston studies: Breast cancer costs and medical records benefits

After pushing mammograms for years, breast cancer advocates have had a hard time pulling back. Still the evidence keep piling up that message about surviving breast cancer is more complicated than early detection.  What this study by Boston researchers doesn't measure: the scores of women who say -- If there's a chance it's cancer, I …

Where to put health stories in the paper and why it matters

The Boston Globe has taken to playing stories on medical research findings -- like today's digital mammography report --  on Page 2. For the writer, good play, but not great. To the reader, this suggest important, but not front page important.  This is commendable – often stories about complicated or incremental developments make  the front …

Another study questions benefit of mammograms, via Globe, Times

The Globe isn't sharing much with Boston.com these days. But, you can still access most of the blogs. Today's Daily Dose is on the mammography debate. We all thought early detection was key. For breast cancer, maybe not.  In a research finding that will add to doubts about the value of breast cancer screening, Canadian …

JAMA and Dartmouth on Mammograms <50

Gooz News summarizes an article on the USPSTF recommendation on mammography from the evidence-based medicine group at Dartmouth.  It is part of a group of  commentaries on the topic in the Journal of the American Medical Association -- you need subscription or access via a library. Without screening, 3.5 of 1000 women in their 40s …

Goodman on mammography: Policyspeak v. pink ribbons

Globe-based national columnist Ellen Goodman writes today about how badly the USPSTF delivered the message on the limits of mammography in women under 50. She agrees with their recommendations. She just thinks the panel was blindsided by extremely angry women who are not willing to reconsider the notion that early detection is key to cancer survival.  Then there was the anti-health …

Screen baby, screen — News coverage of new mammography guidelines

 BHN is a big fan of the health news blog produced by fellow health writer/journalism prof Gary Schwitzer at the University of Minnesota. And while we hate gratuitous attacks on the so-called "lamestream" media, there is a lot of really, really bad health reporting out there. Schwitzer follows and rates the coverage and he is always spot on. So, check out his comments …

Screening for Cancer Questioned

BHN thinks this it is huge that the American Cancer Society finally admitted that cancer screening sometimes leads to overdiagnosis. Or did they? This blog item from the Associations of Health Care Journalists notes that ACS backpedaled a day after the NYTimes reported on the society's change of heart. Check out their links too.   (Times writer Gina) Kolata’s story …