# Improving cancer screening in older adults with limited life expectancy

> **NIH NIH K76** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $243,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Background: Cancer screening can lower cancer-related mortality and morbidity but may be associated with
significant harms and burdens in older adults. There is often a lag-time of 10 years before patients screened
for breast, colorectal, or prostate cancers actually benefit. On the other hand, multiple harms from screening
can occur in the short-term. Older adults with limited life expectancy continue to receive cancer screening at
high rates even though it exposes them to the harms of screening with little chance of benefit. Clinicians are a
major driver of over-screening but why they often continue to recommend cancer screening in older adults with
limited life expectancy is unknown. This proposal aims to improve the cancer screening of older adults by 1)
identifying the factors that facilitate or hinder clinician recommendations to stop routine screening in older
adults with limited life expectancy, and 2) better supporting clinicians to appropriately incorporate life
expectancy in their screening recommendations.
Research proposal: Aim 1 will use qualitative methods to understand the range of factors that facilitate or
hinder clinicians from recommending screening cessation in older adults with limited life expectancy. Aim 2 will
test these factors in a national physician survey to determine and quantify their effects on physicians'
screening recommendations in older adults with limited life expectancy. Aim 3 will then develop and pilot test a
novel multi-modal intervention to target the factors that significantly contribute to over-screening. The
intervention will be developed with input from clinicians and older adults and will use multiple, overlapping
strategies that may include decision support, communication coaching, and clinician feedback.
Career development plan: The candidate is a geriatrician who has already demonstrated national and
institutional leadership in research and a strong track record of academic scholarship with numerous high
impact publications and early investigator grants. Her long-term career goal is to be a research leader focused
on incorporating life expectancy to inform patient-centered, individualized preventive care decisions for older
adults. She has laid out a comprehensive, feasible career development plan that will enable her to transition
into an independent investigator and research leader. She proposes to learn new skills in decision support,
clinical trial design, and implementation science, in addition to continued development of leadership skills. She
has assembled an exemplary mentoring team with expertise in the subject area and the relevant research
methods and works in a rich research environment with tremendous resources to support her development.
Summary: The proposal addresses an important research gap and produces a novel intervention that may
have major impact to improve the cancer screening of older adults. The results from this proposal will support a
subsequent large-sca...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10161680
- **Project number:** 5K76AG059984-04
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Nancy Schoenborn
- **Activity code:** K76 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $243,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-07-15 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10161680

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10161680, Improving cancer screening in older adults with limited life expectancy (5K76AG059984-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10161680. Licensed CC0.

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