Limited life expectancy among a subgroup of medicare beneficiaries receiving screening colonoscopies.

ABSTRACT:

Background & aims

Life expectancy is an important consideration when assessing appropriateness of preventive programs for older individuals. Most studies on this subject have used age cutoffs as a proxy for life expectancy. We analyzed patterns of utilization of screening colonoscopy in Medicare enrollees by using estimated life expectancy.

Methods

We used a 5% random national sample of Medicare claims data to identify average-risk patients who underwent screening colonoscopies from 2008 to 2010. Colonoscopies were considered to be screening colonoscopies in the absence of diagnoses for nonscreening indications, which were based on either colonoscopies or any claims in the preceding 3 months. We estimated life expectancies by using a model that combined age, sex, and comorbi

SUBMITTER: Mittal S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3944371 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature