The Population-level Effect of Adjuvant Therapies on Breast Cancer Recurrence: Application of the Trend-in-Trend Design.

Purpose: Breast cancer has an average 10-year relative survival reaching 84%. This favorable survival is due, in part, to the introduction of biomarker-guided therapies. We estimated the population-level effect of the introduction of two adjuvant therapies-tamoxifen and trastuzumab-on recurrence using the trend-in-trend pharmacoepidemiologic study design.

Defining Undertreatment and Overtreatment in Older Adults With Cancer: A Scoping Literature Review.

Purpose: The terms undertreatment and overtreatment are often used to describe inappropriate management of older adults with cancer. We conducted a comprehensive scoping review of the literature to clarify the meanings behind the use of the terms.

Methods: We searched PubMed (National Center for Biotechnology Information), Embase (Elsevier), and CINAHL (EBSCO) for titles and abstracts that included the terms undertreatment or overtreatment with regard to older adults with cancer.

Metabolic Pathway Analysis and Effectiveness of Tamoxifen in Danish Breast Cancer Patients.

Background: Tamoxifen and its metabolites compete with estrogen to occupy the estrogen receptor. The conventional dose of adjuvant tamoxifen overwhelms estrogen in this competition, reducing breast cancer recurrence risk by nearly half. Phase I metabolism generates active tamoxifen metabolites, and phase II metabolism deactivates them.

Cohort Profile: the Predictors of Breast Cancer Recurrence (ProBe CaRE) Premenopausal Breast Cancer Cohort Study in Denmark.

Purpose: The Predictors of Breast Cancer Recurrence (ProBe CaRe) study was established to evaluate modification of tamoxifen (TAM) effectiveness in premenopausal women through reduced activity of TAM-metabolising enzymes. It comprehensively evaluates the effects of pharmacogenetic variants, use of concomitant medications and biomarkers involved in oestrogen metabolism on breast cancer recurrence risk.

Participants: The ProBe CaRe study was established using resources from the Danish Breast Cancer Group (DBCG), including 5959 premenopausal women diagnosed with stage I-III primary breast cancer between 2002 and 2010 in Denmark.

Correction to: Participatory Budgeting: Could It Diminish Health Disparities in the United States?

The abstract is missing from this article despite the fact that the heading "Abstract" appears before the article's first paragraph.

Participatory Budgeting: Could It Diminish Health Disparities in the United States?

Participatory budgeting (PB)-a democratic process where ordinary residents decide directly how to spend part of a public budget-has gained impressive momentum in US municipalities, spreading from one pilot project in Chicago's 49th ward in 2009 to 50 active PB processes across 14 cities in 2016-2017. Over 93,600 US residents voted in a PB process in 2015-2016, deciding over a total of about $49.5 million and funding 264 projects intended to improve their communities.

False-positive mammography and its association with health service use.

Objectives: A false-positive mammogram can result in anxiety, distress, and increased perceptions of breast cancer risk, potentially changing how women utilize healthcare. This study examined whether having an abnormal mammogram, considered a proxy for elevated risk perception, was associated with greater future health service use (outpatient visits and referrals).

Study Design: A retrospective cohort study using electronic health record data, spanning 2008 to 2012, from Boston Medical Center, a safety-net hospital.

Health-Related Quality of Life in a Predictive Model for Mortality in Older Breast Cancer Survivors.

Objectives: To develop a predictive model and risk score for 10-year mortality using health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a cohort of older women with early-stage breast cancer.

Design: Prospective cohort.

Setting: Community.

Self-Reported Function More Informative than Frailty Phenotype in Predicting Adverse Postoperative Course in Older Adults.

Background/objective: Current preoperative assessment tools such as the American College of Surgeons Surgical Risk Calculator (ACS Calculator) are suboptimal for evaluating older adults. The objective was to evaluate and compare the performance of the ACS Calculator for predicting risk of serious postoperative complications with the addition of self-reported physical function versus a frailty score.

Design: Prospective cohort.

Validity of Danish Breast Cancer Group (DBCG) registry data used in the predictors of breast cancer recurrence (ProBeCaRe) premenopausal breast cancer cohort study.

Background: Validation studies of the Danish Breast Cancer Group (DBCG) registry show good agreement with medical records for adjuvant treatment data, but inconsistent recurrence information. No studies have validated changes in menopausal status or endocrine therapy during follow-up. In a longitudinal study, we validated DBCG data using medical records as the gold standard.

Motivation and mortality in older women with early stage breast cancer: A longitudinal study with ten years of follow-up.

Objectives: The Getting Out of Bed Scale (GOB) was validated as a health-related quality of life (HRQoL) variable in older women with early stage breast cancer, suggesting its potential as a concise yet powerful measure of motivation. The aim of our project was to assess the association between GOB and mortality over 10years of follow-up.

Materials And Methods: We studied 660 women ≥65-years old diagnosed with stage I-IIIA primary breast cancer.

NCCN Guidelines Insights: Older Adult Oncology, Version 2.2016.

Cancer is the leading cause of death in older adults aged 60 to 79 years. Older patients with good performance status are able to tolerate commonly used treatment modalities as well as younger patients, particularly when adequate supportive care is provided. For older patients who are able to tolerate curative treatment, options include surgery, radiation therapy (RT), chemotherapy, and targeted therapies.

Predicting 5- and 10-year survival in older women with early-stage breast cancer: self-rated health and walking ability.

Objectives: To determine life expectancy for older women with breast cancer.

Design: Prospective longitudinal study with 10 years of follow-up data.

Setting: Hospitals or collaborating tumor registries in four geographic regions (Los Angeles, California; Minnesota; North Carolina; Rhode Island).

Relative mortality rates from incident chronic diseases among breast cancer survivors--a 14 year follow-up of five-year survivors diagnosed in Denmark between 1994 and 2007.

Background: It remains unknown whether incident chronic diseases are more often fatal among breast cancer survivors than among women free of breast cancer.

Methods: We conducted a nationwide matched cohort study of all Danish breast cancer patients diagnosed between 1994 and 2007, who survived for five years. We compared their long-term mortality with five times as many women from the general population without breast cancer, matched on age.

Why are U.S. girls getting meningococcal but not human papilloma virus vaccines? Comparison of factors associated with human papilloma virus and meningococcal vaccination among adolescent girls 2008 to 2012.

Background: Human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination rates in the United States remain low, compared with other recommended adolescent vaccines. We compared factors associated with intention to receive and receipt of HPV and meningococcal vaccines and completion of the HPV vaccine series among U.S.

Older women's experience with a benign breast biopsy—a mixed methods study.

Background: Little is known about older women's experience with a benign breast biopsy.

Objectives: To examine the psychological impact and experience of women ≥ 65 years of age with a benign breast biopsy.

Design: Prospective cohort study using quantitative and qualitative methods.

Knee osteoarthritis and frailty: findings from the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study and Osteoarthritis Initiative.

Background: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) and frailty are two conditions that are associated with functional limitation and disability in elders, yet their relation to one another is not known.

Methods: We included participants from two large, multicenter studies enriched with community dwelling older adults with knee OA (Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study and Osteoarthritis Initiative). Knee OA was defined radiographically (ROA) and symptomatically (SOA).

Incident comorbidities and all-cause mortality among 5-year survivors of Stage I and II breast cancer diagnosed at age 65 or older: a prospective-matched cohort study.

Five-year breast cancer survivors, diagnosed after 65 years of age, may develop more incident comorbidities than similar populations free of cancer. We investigated whether older breast cancer survivors have a similar comorbidity burden 6-15 years after cancer diagnosis to matched women free of breast cancer at start of follow-up and whether incident comorbidities are associated with all-cause mortality. In this prospective cohort study, 1,361 older 5-year early-stage breast cancer survivors diagnosed between 1990 and 1994 and 1,361 age- and health system-matched women were followed for 10 years.

An oral health study of centenarians and children of centenarians.

Objectives: To determine whether oral health is better in centenarians than in a published birth cohort-matched sample and to compare oral health in centenarian offspring with a case-controlled reference sample.

Design: Observational cross-sectional study.

Setting: New England Centenarian Study (NECS).

Cognitive impairment in older patients with breast cancer before systemic therapy: is there an interaction between cancer and comorbidity?

Purpose: To determine if older patients with breast cancer have cognitive impairment before systemic therapy.

Patients And Methods: Participants were patients with newly diagnosed nonmetastatic breast cancer and matched friend or community controls age > 60 years without prior systemic treatment, dementia, or neurologic disease. Participants completed surveys and a 55-minute battery of 17 neuropsychological tests.

Rehospitalization of older adults discharged to home hospice care.

Background: Acute hospital readmission of older adults receiving hospice care is not aligned with hospice goals.

Objective: To identify factors associated with 30-day readmission among older adults newly discharged to hospice.

Design/subjects: Medical record review of 59 patients, 19 readmitted within 30 days and 40 randomly selected controls not readmitted, from 206 patients newly discharged to home hospice care between February 1, 2005 and January 31, 2010.

Older women's experience with breast cancer treatment decisions.

The purpose of this study was to better understand older women's experience with breast cancer treatment decisions. We conducted a longitudinal study of non-demented, English-speaking women ≥ 65 years recruited from three Boston-based breast imaging centers. We interviewed women at the time of breast biopsy (before they knew their results) and 6 months later.

Comprehensive evaluation of the incidence of late effects in 5-year survivors of breast cancer.

Late effects of breast cancer affect the quality of survivorship. Using administrative data, we compared the occurrence of almost all ICD9 codes among older breast cancer survivors to that among a matched comparison cohort to generate new hypotheses. Breast cancer patients 65 years or older diagnosed 1990-1994 in 6 integrated care settings and who survived at least 5 years were matched with a cohort of women without a history of breast cancer on care setting, age, and calendar time.