Frequency of low-value services in Alberta between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2015
| Patients receiving each low-value service (n) | Denominator (number of Albertans in each defined population) | Count (per 1000 at-risk person years) | Percentage of ‘at-risk’ people receiving this low-value care at least once in the 3 years | p Value for comparison across regions | ||||
| All of Alberta | Metro Edmonton | Metro Calgary | Five regional centres | Rural | ||||
| 1. PSA testing for men 75 or older with no history of prostate cancer (n=55 603) | 100 227 | 428.4 | 55.5 | 58.4 | 53.2 | 55.5 | 54.5 | <0.001 |
| 2. Routine cancer screening (breast, cervical, colon, prostate) in dialysis patients 75 years or older (n=211) | 1073 | 148.8 | 19.8 | 17.6 | 22.3 | 14.0 | 21.8 | 0.11 |
| 3. Cervical cancer screening for women over 65 with no history of cervical dysplasia or genital cancer (n=43 855) | 279 116 | 67.5 | 15.7 | 17.9 | 17.0 | 12.8 | 12.4 | <0.001 |
| 4. BMD testing within 2 years of prior scan (n=31 616) | 271 854 with a BMD test | 39.6 | 11.6 | 12.8 | 11.3 | 11.0 | 10.2 | <0.001 |
| 5. Hypercoagulability testing in patients with first DVT/PE (n=744) | 21 311 | 13.9 | 3.5 | 9.0 | 0.1 | 3.5 | 2.7 | <0.001 |
| 6. Preoperative coronary CT scan or cardiac stress tests before non-cardiac surgery (n=7259) | 698 683 undergoing non-cardiac surgery | 4.1 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 1.3 | <0.001 |
| 7. Colorectal cancer screening in people 75 years or older (n=3692) | 218 882 | 6.1 | 1.7 | 2.6 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 1.8 | <0.001 |
| 7a. Colorectal cancer screening for people 85 years or older (n=137) | 45 577 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.4 | <0.001 |
| 8. Homocysteine testing without B12 or folate testing or history of B12/folate deficiency (n=10 499) | 2 585 832 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.3 | <0.001 |
| 9. Carotid artery imaging but without history of stroke or TIA (n=2698) | 3 162 394 adult Albertans without history of stroke or TIA | 0.3 | 0.09 | 0.06 | 0.03 | 0.08 | 0.23 | <0.001 |
| 10. Carotid artery imaging for patients with syncope but no history of stroke or TIA (n=352) | 74 060 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 1.2 | <0.001 |
BMD, bone mineral density; PSA, prostate-specific antigen.