Biomedical subjects
Patricia Mangan
Publications and source records attributed to Patricia Mangan.
Geographic disparities in cervical cancer mortality: what are the roles of risk factor prevalence, screening, and use of recommended treatment?
CONTEXT: Despite advances in early detection and prevention of cervical cancer, women living in rural areas, and particularly in Appalachia, the rural South, the Texas/Mexico border, and the central valley of California, have had consistently higher rates of cervical cancer mortality than their counterparts in other areas during the past several decades. METHODS: This paper reviews the published literature from 1966 to July 2002 to assess three potential pathways underlying this excess mortality--high human papilloma virus (HPV) prevalence, lack of or infrequent screening and advanced disease at diagnosis, and under-use of recommended treatment and shorter survival. FINDINGS: Living in rural areas may impose barriers to cervical cancer control, including lack of transportation and medical care infrastructures. Population characteristics that place women at greater risk for developing and dying from cervical cancer, such as low income, lack of health insurance, and physician availability, are concentrated in rural areas. Published data, however, are insufficient to identify the key reasons for the observed mortality patterns. CONCLUSIONS: At this time, given the lack of definitive evidence in the published literature, decisions about priorities in areas with high rates of cervical cancer mortality will depend on knowledge of current levels of screening, incidence, and stage distribution; and service delivery infrastructures, resources, and acceptability of interventions to the target population.
Care for the caregivers: a review of self-report instruments developed to measure the burden, needs, and quality of life of informal caregivers.
Significant demands are being placed on the informal caregivers of chronically ill patients, including those suffering from cancer. Health care professionals need to be aware of these demands, and they need effective tools to assess the impact these demands place on the caregivers. Over the past 25 years, researchers have developed self-report instruments to assess informal caregivers. These instruments assess various aspects of the caregiving experience, including caregiver burden, needs, and quality of life. The purpose of this review was to identify and critically evaluate these instruments. MEDLINE and PUBMED were searched from 1966 to 2002. After an extensive literature search and review, and utilizing specific inclusion criteria, 28 instruments were identified and evaluated in terms of their development, content, and psychometric properties. In addition, a history of the construct and measurement development in the areas of caregiver burden, needs, and quality of life are discussed. Although some further development and refinement of instruments could benefit the field, depending on the questions researchers or clinicians seek to pursue, there are many proven tools available for their use. Future research needs to use these instruments to assess the effectiveness of interventions aimed at improving the care of the caregivers.
Effectiveness of interventions to increase Papanicolaou smear use.
BACKGROUND: Many women fail to adhere to Papanicolaou smear screening guidelines. Although many interventions have been developed to increase screening, the effectiveness of different types of interventions is unclear. METHODS: We performed a systematic review of interventions to increase Papanicolaou smear use published between 1980 and April 2001 and included concurrently or randomized controlled studies with defined outcomes. Interventions were classified as targeted to patients, providers, patients and providers, or health care systems and as behavioral, cognitive, sociologic, or a combination based on the expected action of the intervention. Effect sizes and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for each intervention. RESULTS: Forty-six studies with 63 separate interventions were included. Most interventions increased Papanicolaou smear use, although in many cases the increase was not statistically significant. Behavioral interventions targeted to patients (eg, mailed or telephone reminders) increased Papanicolaou smear use by up to 18.8%; cognitive and sociologic interventions were only marginally effective, although a single culturally specific, sociologic intervention using a lay health worker increased use by 18.0% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 7.6, 28.4). Provider-targeted interventions were heterogeneous. Interventions that targeted both patients and providers did not appear to be any more effective than interventions targeted to either patients or providers alone. One of the most effective interventions, which introduced a system change by integrating a nurse-practitioner and offered same-day screening, increased screening by 32.7% (95% CI: 20.5, 44.9). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, most interventions increased Papanicolaou smear use, although there was tremendous variability in their effectiveness. Selection of intervention strategies will depend on provider and patient population characteristics and feasibility of implementation.