• Racial disparities in CRC survival dissipate with adjustments
Cancer. doi:10.1002/cncr.24408. [July 13, 2009]
Investigators in a new study conclude that the effect of demographics, clinical factors and socioeconomic status on racial
disparities in colorectal cancer (CRC) survival dissipate after adjusting for other demographic and clinical factors. The
study population in the Detroit Metropolitan Area included 9,078 individuals with primary invasive CRC identified between
1988 and 1992 through the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program.
Researchers found that African Americans were more likely to be diagnosed with stage IV disease and to reside within poor
census tracts compared with whites. After adjusting for age, marital status, gender, socioeconomic group, stage and treatment,
race was no longer significantly associated with overall survival. Similar results were seen with CRC-specific survival. Researchers
conclude that these results can potentially affect medical guidelines regarding screening and treatment. • Health plan satisfaction lower among individual purchasers
J.D. Power and Associates 2009 National Health Insurance Plan Study. http://www.jdpower.com/insurance/articles/2009-Health-Insurance-Plan-Satisfaction-Study
Health plan members who individually purchase their plans or work for small employers (50 workers or fewer) are considerably
less satisfied with their health plan experience compared with health plan members who work for larger organizations, according
to the most recent National Health Insurance Plan Study conducted by J.D. Power and Associates. Measuring member satisfaction
among 131 health plans in 17 regions throughout the United States, researchers examined such factors as coverage and benefits,
provider choice, information and communication, claims processing, billing statements, customer service and approval processes.
• Ultrasound tops symptom analysis in ovarian cancer detection
Cancer. doi:10.1002/cncr.24407. [July 13, 2009]
Results of a new study that compared symptom analysis with ultrasound in predicting ovarian cancer show that although symptoms
do identify ovarian malignancies, they are not as accurate as trans-vaginal screening (TVS). Researchers selected 272 women
participating in annual TVS from 31,748 women enrolled in a free screening project at the University of Kentucky to compare
symptom results with ultrasound and surgical pathology findings. They found that TVS performed better than symptoms analysis
for distinguishing malignancies (73.3% vs. 20% sensitivity). Although symptoms analysis performed better for distinguishing
benign tumors (91.3% vs. 74.4% specificity), adding symptom analysis to TVS actually resulted in poorer identification of
malignancy even as it improved the ability to distinguish benign tumors. Researchers add that informative symptoms can be
expected to be absent in 80% of ovarian cancer.
