Early Stage Breast Cancer in Older Women: Predictors and Outcomes of Therapy
Abstract
The goal of this project is to develop from secondary data bases a population-based observational cohort to study the relationship of initial surgical treatment for breast cancer and specific outcomes. In the initial grant year, work has focused on the development of an algorithm to identify women with early stage breast cancer treated with mastectomy or breast-conserving treatment (BCT) using Medicare claims. Compared to Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Registry data, in-patient Medicare data have been found to have 87% sensitivity for mastectomy cases but only 45% sensitivity for BCT cases. Addition of outpatient Medicare claims improves the sensitivity for BCT cases, but the specificity of the algorithm when applied to a general Medicare population requires further assessment. Due to the low incidence of breast cancer in the general Medicare population, a specificity of % 99.9% may be required to attain a sufficiently high positive predictive value for the algorithm.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADB234475
Entities
People
- Ann B. Nattinger
Organizations
- Medical College of Wisconsin