New Medicare and Medicaid Findings Has Been Reported by Investigators at Duke University (National Lung Screening Trial Findings by Age:…

New Medicare and Medicaid Findings Has Been Reported by Investigators at Duke University (National Lung Screening Trial Findings by Age: Medicare-Eligible Versus Under-65 Population)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Fresh data on Medicare and Medicaid are presented in a new report. According to news reporting out of Durham, North Carolina, by VerticalNews editors, research stated, "The NLST (National Lung Screening Trial) showed reduced lung cancer mortality in high-risk participants (smoking history of >= 30 pack-years) aged 55 to 74 years who were randomly assigned to screening with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) versus those assigned to chest radiography. An advisory panel recently expressed reservations about Medicare coverage of LDCT screening because of concerns about performance in the Medicare-aged population, which accounted for only 25% of the NLST participants."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Duke University, "To examine the results of the NLST LDCT group by age (Medicare-eligible vs. <65 years). Secondary analysis of a group from a randomized trial (NCT00047385). 33 U.S. screening centers. 19 612 participants aged 55 to 64 years (under-65 cohort) and 7110 participants aged 65 to 74 years (65+ cohort) at randomization. 3 annual rounds of LDCT screening. Demographics, smoking and medical history, screening examination adherence and results, diagnostic follow-up procedures and complications, lung cancer diagnoses, treatment, survival, and mortality. The aggregate false-positive rate was higher in the 65+ cohort than in the under-65 cohort (27.7% vs. 22.0%; P< 0.001). Invasive diagnostic procedures after false-positive screening results were modestly more frequent in the older cohort (3.3% vs. 2.7%; P = 0.039). Complications from invasive procedures were low in both groups (9.8% in the under-65 cohort vs. 8.5% in the 65+ cohort). Prevalence and positive predictive value (PPV) were higher in the 65+ cohort (PPV, 4.9% vs. 3.0%). Resection rates for screen-detected cancer were similar (75.6% in the under-65 cohort vs. 73.2% in the 65+ cohort). Five-year all-cause survival was lower in the 65+ cohort (55.1% vs. 64.1%; P = 0.018). Limitation: The oldest screened patient was aged 76 years. NLST participants aged 65 years or older had a higher rate of false-positive screening results than those younger than 65 years but a higher cancer prevalence and PPV."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Screen-detected cancer was treated similarly in the groups."

For more information on this research see: National Lung Screening Trial Findings by Age: Medicare-Eligible Versus Under-65 Population. Annals of Internal Medicine, 2014;161(9):627-120. Annals of Internal Medicine can be contacted at: Amer Coll Physicians, Independence Mall West 6TH And Race St, Philadelphia, PA 19106-1572, USA.

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Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting P.F. Pinsky, Duke University, Sch Med, Durham, NC 27710, United States. Additional authors for this research include D.S. Gierada, W. Hocking, E.F. Patz and B.S. Kramer.

Keywords for this news article include: Durham, Cancer, Oncology, United States, Health Policy, North Carolina, Medicare and Medicaid, North and Central America

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