ASA President’s Task Force Statement on Statistical Significance and Replicability

PURPOSE: For patients with cancer who are older than 65 years, the 2018 ASCO Guideline recommends geriatric assessment (GA) be performed. However, there are limited data on providers’ practices using GA. Therefore, ASCO’s Geriatric Oncology Task Force conducted a survey of providers to assess practice patterns and barriers to GA. METHODS: Cancer providers treating adult patients including those ≥ 65 years completed an online survey. Questions included those asking about awareness of ASCO’s Geriatric Oncology Guideline (2018), use of validated GA tools, and perceived barriers to using GA. Descriptive statistics and statistical comparisons between those aware of the Guideline and those who were not were conducted. Statistical significance was set at P < .05. RESULTS: Participants (N = 1,277) responded between April 5 and June 5, 2019. Approximately half (53%) reported awareness of the Guideline. The most frequently used GA tools, among those aware of the Guideline and those who were not, assessed functional status (69% v 50%; P < .001) and falls (62% v 45%; P < .001). Remaining tools were used < 50% of the time, including tools assessing weight loss, comorbidities, cognition, life expectancy, chemotherapy toxicity, mood, and noncancer mortality risk. GA use was two to four times higher among those who are aware of the Guideline. The most frequent barriers for those who reported being Guideline aware were lack of resources, specifically time (81.7%) and staff (77.0%). In comparison, those who were unaware of the Guideline most often reported the following barriers: lack of knowledge or training (78.4%), lack of awareness about tools (75.2%), and uncertainty about use of tools (75.0%). CONCLUSION: Among providers caring for older adults, 52% were aware of the ASCO Guideline. Some domains were assessed frequently (eg, function, falls), whereas other domains were assessed rarely (eg, mood, cognition). Guideline awareness was associated with two to four times increased use of GA and differing perceived barriers. Interventions facilitating Guideline-consistent implementation will require various strategies to change behavior.

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Impact of the Current US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendations for Cervical Cancer Screening in Young Women 21 to 29 Years Old

American Journal of Clinical Pathology ◽

10.1093/ajcp/aqaa012 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 153 (6) ◽

pp. 734-742 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

C Paul Morris ◽

Sayanan Chowsilpa ◽

Sara Mustafa ◽

Isaac Chan ◽

Daniel Miller ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cervical Cancer ◽

Cancer Screening ◽

Cervical Cancer Screening ◽

Task Force ◽

Statistical Significance ◽

Academic Medical Center ◽

Tertiary Care ◽

Preventive Services ◽

High Grade ◽

The Impact

Abstract Objectives In 2012, the US Preventive Services Task Force decreased the recommended frequency of cervical cytology screening to once every 3 years and recommended against testing women younger than 21 years regardless of sexual history. We evaluated the impact of this in 21 to 29-year-old women at a tertiary care academic medical center in 2011 and 2017. Methods We retrospectively analyzed Papanicolaou test results at two time points in 21- to 29-year-old women. Results There was a decrease in the number of high-grade lesions in 21- to 25-year-old women (odds ratio [OR], 0.36) from 2011 to 2017. Within the 26- to 29-year-old patient group, there was a trend toward a higher percentage of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) in 2017 compared to 2011 on cytology, which did not reach statistical significance (OR, 1.46). However, follow-up histologic specimens showed a higher percentage of HSIL in 2017 compared to 2011 in this age group (OR, 2.16). Conclusions Our findings suggest that the cervical cancer screening guidelines introduced in 2012 have not had a detrimental impact on the outcomes of cervical cancer screening for 21- to 25-year-old women. However, we need to continue monitoring the effects of decreased screening in 26- to 29-year-old women.

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DIFFERENCES IN THE PREVALENCE OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY IN 5- to 14-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN IN KRAKÓW, POLAND, USING THREE NATIONAL BMI CUT-OFFS

Journal of Biosocial Science ◽

10.1017/s0021932017000426 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 50 (3) ◽

pp. 365-379 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Renata Woźniacka ◽

Aneta Bac ◽

Małgorzata Kowal ◽

Stanisław Matusik

Keyword(s):

Task Force ◽

Statistical Significance ◽

Overweight And Obesity ◽

National Database ◽

Control And Prevention ◽

International Data ◽

National Databases ◽

The City ◽

Comparability Of Results ◽

Good Agreement

SummaryThe problem of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents has been noted in many different countries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the differences in the percentage occurrence of overweight and obesity in Polish children depending on the criteria used, and to evaluate the usefulness of the Polish national database. The study sample comprised 3405 children aged 5–14 years (1674 girls and 1731 boys) from the city of Kraków, Poland, in 2009–2010. The BMI of each child was calculated and classified as overweight or obese according to three different reference BMI cut-offs: the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Polish 2010 standard. To assess the statistical significance of the differences between these three applied reference datasets, a comparison of two proportions was performed and Cohen’s kappa coefficient calculated. The prevalences of overweight were 15%, 11.3% and 9.5% (IOTF, CDC, Polish 2010, respectively) among boys and 15.5%, 11.6% and 9.9% among girls. The prevalences of obesity were 3.3%, 6.1% and 5.5% (IOTF, CDC, Polish 2010, respectively) among boys and 3.4%, 6.3% and 5.7% among girls. The different methods used generally showed good agreement. Nevertheless the prevalence of overweight and obesity differed significantly depending on the criteria used. In conclusion, the creation and updating of national databases based on large, representative groups is justified and provides the best reference for regional data. However, in order to ensure the comparability of results with those from other countries, it seems advisable to use cut-offs based on international data as well.

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ASA President’s Task Force Statement on Statistical Significance and Replicability

CHANCE ◽

10.1080/09332480.2021.2003631 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 34 (4) ◽

pp. 10-11

Author(s):

Yoav Benjamini ◽

Richard D. De Veaux ◽

Bradley Efron ◽

Scott Evans ◽

Mark Glickman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Task Force ◽

Statistical Significance

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The Predictors of Obesity among Urban Girls and Boys Aged 8–10 Years—A Cross-Sectional Study in North-Western Poland

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17186611 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (18) ◽

pp. 6611

Author(s):

Joanna Ratajczak ◽

Elzbieta Petriczko

Keyword(s):

Body Weight ◽

Task Force ◽

Statistical Significance ◽

Body Height ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Preventive Action ◽

Chi Square ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Urban Girls ◽

Student’S T

Background: Children worldwide are increasingly becoming overweight and obese and developing related health problems, including hypertension, lipid disorders, abnormal glucose tolerance, type 2 diabetes, and secondary psychological disorders. The aim of the study was to determine sociodemographic risk factors that predict an increase in BMI in children at an early school age. Material and method: The study covered 4972 children aged 8–10 years, including boys (N = 2461) and girls (N = 2511). Measurements of basic anthropometric indicators were used, such as body height, body weight, body composition, and physical fitness. The criteria developed by the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) were adopted. Sociodemographic features were analyzed based on a diagnostic survey. IBM SPSS Statistics v.25 (Mineral Midrange SA, Warsaw, Poland) and IBM SPSS Amos software (Mineral Midrange SA, Warsaw, Poland) were used to perform descriptive statistics, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Pearson′s chi-square test, Student’s t-test, and the Mann-Whitney U test. The statistical significance index was assumed to be p < 0.05, while p < 0.01 was taken as an indicator of a trend which was not completely statistically significant. Results: Both the children and their parents had mainly moderate BMI. A total of 78.7% of children were within the weight norm. Among girls, extreme obesity was two times more frequent than extreme underweight. The examined boys were significantly taller, heavier, and had a higher BMI than girls. There were significant differences between boys and girls in BMI; however, gender alone accounted for less than 1% variance. The influence of parents′ characteristics was much greater, increasing the explained variance to 10%. Body weight of mothers and fathers (p < 0.001), mother′s height (p < 0.01) and both parents′ level of education (p < 0.001) were detected as significant predictors of children’s BMI. Conclusions: The analysis of selected sociodemographic and health factors determining the BMI of the child population indicates the need for preventive action and health promotion both among children and their parents.

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Starting the Conversation: Are Campus Sexual Assault Policies Related to the Prevalence of Campus Sexual Assault?

Journal of Interpersonal Violence ◽

10.1177/0886260518798352 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 33 (21) ◽

pp. 3315-3343 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Stephanie M. DeLong ◽

Laurie M. Graham ◽

Erin P. Magee ◽

Sarah Treves-Kagan ◽

Christine L. Gray ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sexual Assault ◽

Task Force ◽

Statistical Significance ◽

Sex Discrimination ◽

Sexual Misconduct ◽

School Level ◽

American Universities ◽

Campus Sexual Assault ◽

Association Of American Universities ◽

The Impact

One goal of university campus sexual assault (CSA) policies is to help prevent CSA. Federal guidance in the 2014 White House Task Force to Protect Students From Sexual Assault Checklist for Campus Sexual Misconduct Policies suggests 10 elements for inclusion in CSA policies (e.g., Policy Introduction, Grievance/Adjudication), and outlines policy topics to be included within each element (Policy Introduction includes two topics: statement of prohibition against sex discrimination including sexual misconduct and statement of commitment to address sexual misconduct). However, no research has examined whether CSA policies impact CSA prevalence. To begin addressing this gap, we studied 24 universities participating in the 2015 Association of American Universities Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct. We linked 2014-2015 data from these universities’ CSA policies and their CSA prevalence findings from the 2015 Association of American Universities (AAU) survey. To test whether the comprehensiveness of schools’ CSA policies was related to schools’ CSA prevalence, we examined the degree to which the CSA policies included recommended policy content from the aforementioned Checklist. Policies were characterized as more comprehensive if they included greater numbers of Checklist topics. We then correlated the number of topics within the policies with school-level CSA prevalence. We also explored whether there was lower CSA prevalence among schools with policies containing particular topics. Results suggested that greater comprehensiveness of schools’ entire CSA policies was negatively correlated with CSA prevalence; however, these findings did not approach statistical significance. The number of negative correlations observed between schools’ CSA policy elements and CSA prevalence among undergraduate women was greater than expected by chance alone, suggesting a possible connection between comprehensive CSA policies and CSA prevalence. Schools with policies that included a topic on their sexual assault response team had the lowest CSA prevalence for both women and men, and schools that included topics describing grievance/adjudication procedures had lower CSA prevalence. This study provides a novel examination of CSA and could inform needed research related to the impact of CSA policies on CSA.

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The ASA president’s task force statement on statistical significance and replicability

The Annals of Applied Statistics ◽

10.1214/21-aoas1501 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Yoav Benjamini ◽

Richard D. De Veaux ◽

Bradley Efron ◽

Scott Evans ◽

Mark Glickman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Task Force ◽

Statistical Significance

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Efficacy and safety of bexarotene combined with psoralen/ultraviolet A light (PUVA) compared to PUVA treatment alone in stage IB-IIa mycosis fungoides (MF): Final results from EORTC cutaneous lymphoma task force (CLTF) phase III clinical trial 21011.

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2012.30.15_suppl.8076 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 30 (15_suppl) ◽

pp. 8076-8076

Author(s):

Sean Whittaker ◽

Pablo L. Ortiz-Romero ◽

Reinhard Dummer ◽

Annamari Ranki ◽

Baktiar Hasan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Task Force ◽

Statistical Significance ◽

Median Number ◽

Phase Iii ◽

P Value ◽

Open Label ◽

Stage Ib ◽

Treatment Standard ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Grade 3

8076 Background: Skin-directed treatment with methoxsalen (PUVA) is the current treatment standard in stage IB-IIA MF. A combination of PUVA and bexarotene might be of additional clinical benefit for MF stage I/II patients (pts). Methods: EORTC 21011 was a randomised, open label phase III study comparing combined bexarotene and PUVA versus PUVA alone in pts with stage IB and IIA MF. Study primary endpoint was response (complete clinical + partial response, CCR+PR) rate; secondary endpoints: cumulative dose of UVA and number of PUVA sessions necessary to achieve a CCR, duration of CCR, time to relapse, safety and percentage of drop-outs. Results: The study recruited stage IB/IIA MF pts and was prematurely closed due to low accrual after 93/145 required pts (65%) were randomized; 45 to PUVA, 48 to PUVA+bexarotene. Median number of PUVA weeks were 12 (1-17) in PUVA vs. 10.5 (1-16) in combination arm. Total UVA doses were 107J/cm2 (1.4-489.9) in PUVA vs. 101.7J/cm2 (0.2-529.9) in combination arm. Few grade 3-4 toxicities were observed in both arms (liver enzyme elevation, neutropenia, anemia, increased cholesterol, photosensitivity, pruritus, rash, hypertriglyceridemia). Best overall response (CCR/PR) rate was 71.1% (33/45) for PUVA alone and 77.1% (37/48) for combination arm (p-value=0.57). The median of duration of response was 9.6 for PUVA vs 5.8 months for combination arm (p value=0.33). CCR was seen in 25 pts, 10 in PUVA (CCR 24%) and 15 in combination therapy (CCR 33%) (pvalue=0.45). Similarily, a lower UVA dose was required to achieve a CCR in the combination arm (median of 55.8 J/cm2) compared to the PUVA arm (median of 117.58 J/cm2) (p value=0.5). Conclusions: No significant difference in response rate was observed in this study. There was a trend towards fewer PUVA sessions and lower UVA dose to achieve CCR in the PUVA/bexarotene combination arm (median of 27.5 vs. 22,p-value = 0.11) but this did not achieve statistical significance due to insufficient power. The safety profile was acceptable, as there were only few grade 3-4 toxicities observed in both arms.

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Health care professionals’ practices, perceptions, and awareness regarding breast self-examination.

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2014.32.26_suppl.14 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 32 (26_suppl) ◽

pp. 14-14

Author(s):

Kah Poh Loh ◽

Eng Keong Tan ◽

Owolabi Ogunneye ◽

Jennifer Friderici ◽

Reva Kleppel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Nurse Practitioners ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Healthcare Professionals ◽

Task Force ◽

Statistical Significance ◽

Demographic Data ◽

The United States ◽

Survey Study ◽

Breast Self Examination ◽

Self Examination

14 Background: In 2009, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) published the revised guidelines for breast cancer screening which recommended against teaching breast self-examination (BSE).The objective of this study was to assess healthcare professionals' practices, perceptions and knowledge in BSE as well as their adherence to the newly revised USPSTF guideline for BSE. Methods: A cross-sectional survey study was carried out in five medical and gynecological practices affiliated with a large academic teaching hospital in western Massachusetts. The survey was sent to all attending- and resident-physicians, nurse practitioners (NPs), physician assistants (PAs), and registered nurses (RNs) working in these medical practices.The survey collected demographic data and inquired about practitioners’ awareness and perceptions of the 2009 USPSTF guidelines. Results: The survey completion rate was 50.7%. Fewer than half of respondents correctly identified the 2009 USPSTF guidelines recommendations for BSE (41.4%). However, among 35 respondents who stated they were aware of USPSTF guidelines, only 37.1% adhered to them. Overall, 70% (95% CI 61.3%, 79.1%) stated that they do teach patients to perform BSE. The most frequent reasons cited for teaching BSE were: “early detection of cancer” (48.0%), and to “empower women”, (37.0%). In univariable analyses, female practitioners were significantly more likely than male practitioners to report teaching BSE (OR 2.64, 95% CI 1.11, 6.29). Other characteristics which showed an association without reaching statistical significance were: ≥ 5 years of practice (OR 1.67, 95% CI 0.70, 3.98); non-physician practitioner (OR 3.5, 95% CI 0.82, 14.93); US Med School (OR 2.20, 95% CI 0.84, 5.75); ever detecting a lump in a patient (OR 2.95, 95% CI 0.80, 10.87), and belief that BSE reduces morbidity and mortality (OR 2.12, 95% CI 0.84, 5.37). Conclusions: Knowledge of, and adherence to, the 2009 USPSTF guidelines related to BSE are relatively low. Despite being aware of the guidelines, some health professionals still taught BSE. Greater efforts should be made to educate healthcare professionals about the 2009 USPSTF guidelines on BSE.

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Improved survival of increased-risk myeloma patients on combined triple- alkylating-agent therapy: a study of the CALGB

Blood ◽

10.1182/blood.v54.1.13.bloodjournal54113 ◽

1979 ◽

Vol 54 (1) ◽

pp. 13-22

Author(s):

JB Harley ◽

TF Pajak ◽

OR McIntyre ◽

S Kochwa ◽

MR Cooper ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tumor Cell ◽

Task Force ◽

Alkylating Agents ◽

Statistical Significance ◽

Entire Group ◽

Poor Risk ◽

The Poor ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Improvement In Survival ◽

Extent Of Disease

Two hundred fifty-two previously untreated evaluable patients with multiple myeloma were entered into a study testing a regimen of three intravenous alkylating agents, melphalan, cyclophosphamide, and carmustine (BCNU), given in combination (BCMP) against a regimen employing oral melphalan (MP). Both regimens included a tapering course of prednisone. Objective responses based on the Myeloma Task Force criteria were significantly more frequent in the group receiving BCMP. Survival for the entire group of BCMP-treated patients was not significantly better than that for MP-treated patients (p = 0.62). However, when the survival of the poor-risk (high tumor cell load) group of patients treated with BCMP was compared with the survival of the poor-risk (high tumor cell load) group of patients treated with MP, an improvement in survival attributable to BCMP therapy was seen (p = 0.049 and 0.02, respectively). In the good-risk (low and intermediate tumor cell load) group, BCMP treatment resulted in a trend toward poorer survival, but this did not achieve statistical significance (p = 0.080 and 0.23, respectively). These results indicate that optimal therapy in myeloma may be dependent on the extent of disease at the time of first treatment. Additional studies to explore the effects of treatment intensity and duration are needed in order to design improved myeloma treatment based on the patient's extent of disease.

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