Screening for Skin Cancer in Adults: Updated Evidence Report and Systematic Review for the US Preventive Services Task Force.

Importance: Skin cancer, primarily melanoma, is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States.

Objective: To provide an updated systematic review for the US Preventive Services Task Force regarding clinical skin cancer screening among adults.

Data Sources: MEDLINE, PubMed, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched for relevant studies published from January 1, 1995, through June 1, 2015, with surveillance through February 16, 2016.

Screening for Colorectal Cancer: Updated Evidence Report and Systematic Review for the US Preventive Services Task Force.

Importance: Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States.

Objective: To systematically review the effectiveness, diagnostic accuracy, and harms of screening for CRC.

Data Sources: Searches of MEDLINE, PubMed, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials for relevant studies published from January 1, 2008, through December 31, 2014, with surveillance through February 23, 2016.

Screening for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Evidence Report and Systematic Review for the US Preventive Services Task Force.

Importance: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death in the United States.

Objective: To systematically review literature on the accuracy of screening questionnaires and office-based screening pulmonary function testing and the efficacy and harms of treatment of screen-detected COPD.

Data Sources: MEDLINE, PubMed, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials for relevant English-language studies published through January 2015.

Primary Care Screening for and Treatment of Depression in Pregnant and Postpartum Women: Evidence Report and Systematic Review for the US Preventive Services Task Force.

Importance: Depression is a source of substantial burden for individuals and their families, including women during the pregnant and postpartum period.

Objective: To systematically review the benefits and harms of depression screening and treatment, and accuracy of selected screening instruments, for pregnant and postpartum women. Evidence for depression screening in adults in general is available in the full report.

Standards of Evidence for Behavioral Counseling Recommendations.

Behavioral counseling interventions to promote healthy behaviors can significantly reduce leading causes of disease and death. Recommendations for delivery of these interventions in primary care have been and continue to be an important part of the U.S.

Behavioral Counseling Interventions Expert Forum: Overview and Primer on U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Methods.

The importance of behavioral counseling as a clinical preventive service derives from the social and economic burden of preventable disease in the U.S., the central role behavioral risk factors play as leading causes of premature morbidity and mortality, and the promise of the healthcare visit as a teachable moment for behavioral counseling support.

Evidence of clinical utility: an unmet need in molecular diagnostics for patients with cancer.

This article defines and describes best practices for the academic and business community to generate evidence of clinical utility for cancer molecular diagnostic assays. Beyond analytical and clinical validation, successful demonstration of clinical utility involves developing sufficient evidence to demonstrate that a diagnostic test results in an improvement in patient outcomes. This discussion is complementary to theoretical frameworks described in previously published guidance and literature reports by the U.