Why are killer whales harassing and killing porpoises without eating them?

Scientists investigate a perplexing behavior

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - DAVIS

 

IMAGE: 

A KILLER WHALE IN THE SALISH SEA IS OBSERVED HARASSING A PORPOISE, A BEHAVIOR THAT HAS LONG PERPLEXED SCIENTISTS. A STUDY FROM WILD ORCA AND UC DAVIS' SEADOC SOCIETY INVESTIGATE WHAT MAY BE BEHIND IT.

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CREDIT: WILD ORCA

For decades, fish-eating killer whales in the Pacific Northwest have been observed harassing and even killing porpoises without consuming them—a perplexing behavior that has long intrigued scientists.

A study published today in Marine Mammal Science, co-led by Deborah Giles of Wild Orca and Sarah Teman of the SeaDoc Society, a program of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, looked at more than 60 years of recorded interactions between Southern Resident killer whales and porpoises in the Salish Sea to better understand why they exhibit this behavior.

Southern Resident killer whales are an endangered population, numbering only 75 individuals. Their survival is intimately tied to the fortunes of Chinook salmon — also an endangered species. Without enough Chinook salmon, these whales are in danger of extinction.

“I am frequently asked, why don’t the Southern Residents just eat seals or porpoises instead?” said Giles. “It's because fish-eating killer whales have a completely different ecology and culture from orcas that eat marine mammals — even though the two populations live in the same waters. So we must conclude that their interactions with porpoises serve a different purpose, but this purpose has only been speculation until now.”

Three plausible explanations

While scientists have recorded instances of Southern Resident killer whales engaging in porpoise harassment as early as 1962, reasons for this behavior have long remained a mystery. Giles, Teman, and a team of collaborators analyzed 78 documented incidents of porpoise harassment from 1962 to 2020. The study suggests three plausible explanations:

• Social play: Porpoise harassment may be a form of social play for killer whales. Like many intelligent species, these whales sometimes engage in playful activities to bond, communicate, or simply enjoy themselves. This behavior might benefit group coordination and teamwork.
• Hunting practice: Another hypothesis suggests that porpoise harassment might hone their salmon-hunting skills. Southern Resident killer whales could view porpoises as moving targets to practice their hunting techniques, even if they do not intend to consume them.
• Mismothering behavior: This theory suggests that the whales may be attempting to provide care for porpoises they perceive as weaker or ill–a manifestation of their natural inclination to assist others in their group. Females have been witnessed carrying their deceased calves and have been seen similarly carrying porpoises.

“Mismothering behavior — also known as ‘displaced epimeletic behavior’ to scientists— might be due to their limited opportunities to care for young,” Giles explained. “Our research has shown that due to malnutrition, nearly 70% of Southern Resident killer whale pregnancies have resulted in miscarriages or calves that died right away after birth.”

Salmon specialists

Despite these intriguing insights, Giles, Teman, and their collaborators acknowledge that the exact reason behind porpoise harassment may never be fully understood. What is clear, however, is that porpoises are not a part of the Southern Resident killer whale diet. Southern Resident killer whale diets are highly specialized for salmon, making the idea of eating porpoises highly unlikely.

“Killer whales are incredibly complex and intelligent animals. We found that porpoise-harassing behavior has been passed on through generations and across social groupings. It’s an amazing example of killer whale culture,” Teman says. “Still, we don’t expect the Southern Resident killer whales to start eating porpoises. The culture of eating salmon is deeply ingrained in Southern Resident society. These whales need healthy salmon populations to survive.”

This research underscores the importance of conserving salmon populations in the Salish Sea and throughout the whales’ entire range. Maintaining an adequate supply of salmon is vital for the survival and well-being of Southern Resident killer whales and the overall health of the Salish Sea ecosystem.

Affinity for play

This study comes at a time when a separate population of killer whales on the Iberian Peninsula has drawn international headlines for interacting with, and on three occasions, sinking boats off the coast of Portugal and Spain. Ultimately, the Southern Resident killer whales and the Iberian Peninsula orcas are two different populations with distinct cultures. One thing the two might have in common is their affinity for play behavior.

The study was funded by Wild Orca and SeaDoc Society. Additional partners include the University of Exeter, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Orca Behavior Institute, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Cascadia Research, The Whale Museum, Center for Whale Research, Ocean Research College Academy (ORCA) at Everett Community College, Bay Cetology, North Gulf Oceanic Society, George Mason University, and Marine-Med.

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JOURNAL

Marine Mammal Science

DOI

10.1111/mms.13073 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

ARTICLE TITLE

Harassment and killing of porpoises (“phocoenacide”) by fish-eating Southern Resident killer whales (Orcinus orca)

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

28-Sep-2023

Researchers of the School of Science of TalTech revived a method abandoned a century ago. Why?

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ESTONIAN RESEARCH COUNCIL

 

IMAGE: THE AUTHORS RESEARCHING THE MECHANOCHEMICAL BARBIER REACTION (J. V. NALLAPARAJU, T. NIKONOVICH, T. JARG, D. MERZHYIEVSKYI, R. AAV, D. G. KANANOVICH) AND A KEY DEVICE USED IN THEIR STUDY – A SHAKER MILL (VERTICAL) view more 

CREDIT: AUTHOR: TALTECH (TALLINN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY) HTTPS://TALTECH.EE/

Organic synthesis is the art of creating molecules, used for creating essential items like pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and materials for high-tech gadgets such as smartphones. Think of it as playing with LEGO at a microscopic level – chemists connect simple building blocks to create complex molecules, just like snapping together LEGO bricks to make intricate structures. One crucial step in this puzzle is creating a bond between two carbon atoms. Like LEGO bricks with their studs and anti-studs, carbon atoms must fit together to combine easily. However, there is a catch: the most reactive carbon atoms in organic compounds usually carry a positive charge, which makes them incompatible with each other. Imagine trying to connect two LEGO pieces with studs – they just will not stick together. The supervisor of a researcher was overlooked even though he showed the way In the early days of organic chemistry, back in the nineteenth century, researchers discovered a clever workaround to this issue by using so-called organometallic compounds. By bonding carbon to metals like zinc or magnesium, they could switch the charge of the carbon atom from positive to negative. This ‘polarity switch’ enabled the creation of suitable combinations with other organic molecules, opening up a vast playground for chemical creativity. One of the most impactful discoveries was made by the French chemist Victor Grignard, who discovered a method for creating organic derivatives of readily available magnesium. This technique was so significant that it earned him a Nobel Prize in 1912. The Grignard method revolutionised the field, but it has its downsides. The highly reactive metal-containing molecules are unstable and can easily break down when exposed to moisture or air, making industrial-scale applications difficult. A solution to this problem lies in the generation of organometallic compounds only as short-lived intermediates that keep reacting in the same environment and create stable compounds. Grignard’s scientific teacher, Philip Barbier, initially attempted to join carbon atoms this way, but only achieved unsatisfactory results – the yields of the desired products were low. Here is where the story takes an ironic twist: he tasked Grignard with perfecting his method, leading to the Nobel-winning discovery. Philip Barbier himself, however, despite being a pioneer of organometallic chemistry, never received the same acclaim. The chemists of TalTech’s School of Science turned the old into something new More than a century later, a group of chemists of the supramolecular chemistry research group of TalTech, led by Prof. Riina Aav and senior researcher Dr Dzmitry Kananovich, has breathed new life into the abandoned Barbier method. Instead of mixing chemicals with magnesium metal in organic solvents, as traditionally done by chemists for many years, they found that milling them together without a solvent in a device called a shaker mill results in extraordinary improvement, both in terms of efficiency and environmental friendliness. This exciting development brings the Barbier method back into the spotlight, making it as effective as the famous Grignard method. The results have been recently published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition (https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202305775), one of the leading scientific journals in the field of chemistry. The technique used by the researchers is called mechanochemistry, which, despite being known since ancient times, had long been abandoned by the scientific community of organic synthesis in favour of the more traditional solution-based chemistry. Picture grinding coffee beans in a grinder. That is what many mechanochemical devices are like in both appearance and function. They allow chemical reactions to take place through quick blending, milling, and grinding of solid substances, rather than by mixing solutions. An environmentally friendly solution from a century ago Why is this old technique gaining traction again? The answer lies in its benefits for the environment and safety standards. Mechanochemistry avoids the use of dangerous organic solvents, which pose serious threats to both people and the planet. One particularly exciting area of focus in chemistry is the preparation of organometallic compounds, and many esteemed research groups are exploring this direction. In their research, the team from TalTech revisited the original idea of Barbier, making the use of organometallic compounds even more straightforward and convenient. An exciting aspect of this new method is its resistance to air and even certain weak acids, which do not play well with traditional approaches like the Grignard technique. As the organometallic compounds only exist briefly as intermediates and can keep reacting and create end products, this discovery holds great promise for revolutionising the production of numerous valuable substances. Think about how this might change the way we manufacture things. It could lead to simpler, safer, and more environmentally friendly processes, especially in industries that produce substances with significant impact, such as the pharmaceutical industry. The team of TalTech is now looking to take this innovation further, aiming to transform the pharmaceutical sector through mechanochemical production methods. Working with researchers from eleven other European countries, they are collaborating on the IMPACTIVE project, focused on making these benefits a reality. This rediscovery and advancement of mechanochemistry could be the key to unlocking new opportunities in the chemical industry, making it safer and more sustainable for generations to come. It is a blend of the old and the new, with the promise of a brighter future. Reference: Jagadeesh Varma Nallaparaju, Tatsiana Nikonovich, Tatsiana Jarg, Danylo Merzhyievskyi, Riina Aav, Dzmitry G. Kananovich, Mechanochemistry-Amended Barbier Reaction as an Expedient Alternative to Grignard Synthesis, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023,62, e202305775 Links to photos of the authors, pictured: the authors researching the mechanochemical Barbier reaction (J. V. Nallaparaju, T. Nikonovich, T. Jarg, D. Merzhyievskyi, R. Aav, D. G. Kananovich) and a key device used in their study – a shaker mill. Illustration: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202305775 Link about the IMPACTIVE project, and the importance of mechanochemistry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyNdJDzXU7U

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JOURNAL

Angewandte Chemie International Edition

DOI

10.1002/anie.202310353 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Mechanochemistry-Amended Barbier Reaction as an Expedient Alternative to Grignard Synthesis

 

Scientists unveil fire-safe fuel

It won’t burn without electric current

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - RIVERSIDE

 

IMAGE: DIAGRAM DEPICTING THE PROCESS OF IGNITING AND SNUFFING THE FLAMES WITH IONIC LIQUID. view more 

CREDIT: REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

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JOURNAL

Journal of the American Chemical Society

DOI

10.1021/jacs.3c04820 

ARTICLE TITLE

Electrochemical Modulation of the Flammability of Ionic Liquid Fuels

Firefighters extinguishing flames at a gas station.

CREDIT

Thomas Hawk

 

Elk hoof disease likely causes systemic changes

Peer-Reviewed Publication

WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

PULLMAN, Wash. – Elk treponeme-associated hoof disease, previously thought to be limited to deformations in elks’ hooves, appears to create molecular changes throughout the animal’s system, according to epigenetic research from Washington State University.

The findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, also suggest those changes may be heritable. It remains to be seen though whether this means subsequent generations of elk may be more, or less, prone to catching the devastating disease that severely impairs the elk’s ability to find food and escape predators.

“It’s not just the absence or presence of the infection. It’s affecting the animal’s entire physiology, all the cells,” said senior author Michael Skinner, a WSU biologist. “It shows that there's a molecular impact by the presence of the disease organisms.”

Epigenetics are stable molecular processes that can influence how genes behave independent of the DNA sequence itself. Changes in an organism’s epigenetics can be caused by nutrition or environmental factors – and as this study shows, by an infectious disease.

Working with WSU wildlife veterinarian Margaret Wild, Skinner examined cells from leg tendons of 55 infected and uninfected Roosevelt and Rocky Mountain elk. The legs were donated by hunters and collected by wildlife agencies in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and South Dakota.

The researchers found epigenetic alterations that appeared associated with the disease only in the infected elk. Since the tendon cells were away from the infection in the elks’ hooves, the researchers said it was likely that the changes from the treponeme-associated hoof disease were found systemwide.

“We’re building foundational knowledge to understand this disease,” said Wild. “By doing this epigenetic study, we can see apparent systemic impacts from the infection, even though we don't see those pathological changes when we look at the elk.”

This study is part of ongoing efforts by WSU researchers led by Wild to better understand elk treponeme-associated hoof disease. While the infectious disease is named after the treponeme bacteria, the researchers now believe it is likely caused by multiple bacteria. Wild’s team is conducting studies in captive elk to see if they can pinpoint how it is transmitted. Then, they can start looking at factors such as diet that might change the animals’ susceptibility to the disease.

So far, the disease has not been detected in any wild species except for elk, although the WSU researchers are investigating whether there is a connection to bovine digital dermatitis which is commonly found in cattle. They are also using computer modeling to look at environmental factors such as soil type, moisture and geography to see if they can identify physical locations where elk are more likely to have the disease.

“This is a brand-new emerging disease that hardly anything is known about,” Wild said. “We are taking a multi-pronged approach and conducting a broad range of exploratory studies. Our goal is to do as much research as we can to learn about all the impacts this disease is having on individuals and elk populations to help wildlife managers address the disease.”

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JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-023-42546-8 

 

The Human Brain Project ends: What has been achieved

Business Announcement

HUMAN BRAIN PROJECT

 

IMAGE: HBP LOGO view more 

CREDIT: HUMAN BRAIN PROJECT

On September 30th, the Human Brain Project (HBP) formally completes its 10-year runtime as an EU-funded FET Flagship. The project has pioneered digital neuroscience, a new approach to studying the brain based on multidisciplinary collaborations and high-performance computing. The HBP will continue to have an impact on neuroscience for many years through the EBRAINS research infrastructure and a new way of collaborative work in the field.

Between 2013 and 2023, 155 institutions from 19 countries worked together as core partners of the HBP. In total, the HBP was funded with a budget of 607 million Euros over four funding periods, accompanied by specific grant agreements.

The HBP has produced more than 3000 academic publications and more than 160 digital tools, medical and technological applications, an open research infrastructure – EBRAINS – as well as a multinational and uniquely interdisciplinary community that would not have come together otherwise.

The HBP has driven outstanding advances in brain research and in the development of medicine and technology applications. Among the research highlights accomplished by the HBP are the world-leading 3D atlases of the brain, breakthroughs in personalised brain medicine, and the development of new brain-inspired technologies, e.g., in artificial intelligence and neuromorphic computing.

“The brain is one of the most complex systems that we know of, and organised on multiple levels,” explains HBP Director Katrin Amunts. “Gaining a true understanding of how the brain works requires looking at all of these levels together. In the HBP, we have successfully built the tools that empower researchers to do just that: to integrate insights from multiple scales. This could only be achieved by the large-scale, interdisciplinary collaboration that the Flagship enabled.”

Over the last year, a position paper initiated by the HBP about the future of digital neuroscience has been collaboratively written by around 100 international authors from inside and outside of the project. “The coming decade of digital brain research – A vision for neuroscience at the intersection of technology and computing” has been published, with an executive summary outlining the main points.

This new way of working together presents a strong basis for the future: The HBP has built a digital platform that fosters large-scale collaborations. The EBRAINS digital research infrastructure offers access to digital tools, models, data and services, facilitating the integration of brain science across disciplines and national borders.

“With the EBRAINS infrastructure, the HBP has built an invaluable resource that will remain accessible to the scientific community after the project has ended,” says Philippe Vernier, co-CEO of the EBRAINS AISBL.

“EBRAINS is on the path to becoming a lasting and integral part of the European neuroscience landscape. The infrastructure is already used by a range of projects beyond the HBP and has been selected for the prestigious ESFRI Roadmap of European infrastructure. Already, national nodes of EBRAINS are being set up in 11 countries,” adds Jan Bjaalie, HBP Infrastructure Director. These nodes across Europe provide their expertise and services to the scientific community through EBRAINS, while also helping to further grow the user base in their country.

 

Further information

An overview of HBP’s results is available in printed and digital publications:

“Human Brain Project: Spotlights on major achievements” provides brief summaries of some highlight achievements of the HBP.

“Human Brain Project: A closer look at scientific advances“ includes in-depth articles and interviews that highlight some of the most significant achievements of the flagship project in research and innovation.

“An extensive guide to the tools developed“ provides a comprehensive snapshot of a wide set of open research technologies of the the HBP, spanning a range of different research methods, from data management to simulation to core infrastructure tools that facilitate the study and integration of insights from different scales of the brain.

 

For the lonely, a blurred line between real and fictional people

How friends, story characters are represented in the brain

Peer-Reviewed Publication

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

COLUMBUS, Ohio – In lonely people, the boundary between real friends and favorite fictional characters gets blurred in the part of the brain that is active when thinking about others, a new study found.

 

Researchers scanned the brains of people who were fans of “Game of Thrones” while they thought about various characters in the show and about their real friends. All participants had taken a test measuring loneliness.

 

The difference between those who scored highest on loneliness and those who scored lowest was stark, said Dylan Wagner, co-author of the study and associate professor of psychology at The Ohio State University.

 

“There were clear boundaries between where real and fictional characters were represented in the brains of the least lonely participant in our study,” Wagner said.

 

“But the boundaries between real and some fictional people were nearly nonexistent for the loneliest participant.”

 

The results suggest that lonelier people may be thinking of their favorite fictional characters in the same way they would real friends, Wagner said.

 

Wagner conducted the study with Timothy Broom, a PhD graduate of Ohio State who is now a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University. It was published recently in the journal Cerebral Cortex.

 

Data for the study was collected in 2017 during the seventh season of the HBO series “Game of Thrones.” The study involved scanning the brains of 19 self-described fans of the series while they thought about themselves, nine of their friends and nine characters from the series. (The characters were Bronn, Catelyn Stark, Cersei Lannister, Davos Seaworth, Jaime Lannister, Jon Snow, Petyr Baelish, Sandor Clegane and Ygritte.)

 

Participants reported which “Game of Thrones” character they felt closest to and liked the most.

 

“Game of Thrones” was a fantasy drama series lasting eight seasons and concerning political and military conflicts between ruling families on two fictional continents. It was ideal for this study, Wagner said, because the large cast presented a variety of characters that people could become attached to.

 

For the study, the participants’ brains were scanned in an fMRI machine while they evaluated themselves, friends and “Game of Thrones” characters. An fMRI indirectly measures activity in various parts of the brain through small changes in blood flow.

 

The researchers were particularly interested in what was happening in a part of the brain called the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), which shows increased activity when people think about themselves and other people.

 

While in the fMRI machine, participants were shown a series of names – sometimes themselves, sometimes one of their nine friends, and other times one of the nine characters from “Game of Thrones.”

 

Each name appeared above a trait, like sad, trustworthy or smart.

 

Participants simply responded “yes” or “no” to whether the trait accurately described the person while the researchers simultaneously measured activity in the MPFC portion of their brains.

 

The researchers compared results from when participants were thinking about their friends to when they were thinking about the fictional characters.

 

“When we analyzed brain patterns in the MPFC, real people were represented very distinctly from fictional people in the non-lonely participants,” Wagner said.

 

“But among the lonelier people, the boundary starts breaking down. You don’t see the stark lines between the two groups.”

 

The findings suggest that lonely people may turn to fictional characters for a sense of belonging that is lacking in their real life, and that the results can be seen in brain, Wagner said.

 

“The neural representation of fictional characters comes to resemble those of real-world friends,” he said.

 

But even the least lonely participants were affected by the characters they cared about most in “Game of Thrones,” the study found.

 

Results showed that the participants’ favorite characters in “Game of Thrones” looked more like their real friends in their brains than did other characters in the show.  That was true for all people in the study, no matter how lonely and no matter who their favorite character was, Wagner said.

 

“Your favorite characters are more real to you, regardless of loneliness,” he said.

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JOURNAL

Cerebral Cortex

DOI

10.1093/cercor/bhad237 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

The boundary between real and fictional others in the medial prefrontal cortex is blurred in lonelier individuals

Should older adults with fewer years to live keep getting cancer screenings? Poll explores attitudes

Majority of people over 50 disagree with using life expectancy in guidelines for cancer screening tests

Reports and Proceedings

MICHIGAN MEDICINE - UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

 

IMAGE: PERCENTAGE OF OLDER ADULTS WHO DISAGREE WITH USING LIFE EXPECTANCY AS PART OF CANCER SCREENING GUIDELINES view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

A majority of older adults disagree with the idea of using life expectancy as part of guidelines that say which patients should get cancer screenings such as mammograms and colonoscopies, a new poll finds.

In all, 62% of people aged 50 to 80 said that national guidelines for stopping cancer-detecting tests in individual patients should not be based on how long that person might have left to live, according to new results from the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging.

That goes against a trend in such guidelines, which national organizations develop based on medical evidence. Guidelines mainly aim to help health care providers decide when to recommend different tests to a patient – but they also play a role in insurance coverage decisions.

Guidelines have started to factor in life expectancy because the risks from some screening tests increase with age, and because studies show that a person needs to live about 10 years to get the full benefit of finding cancer early.

But the poll finds that even among older adults who can be characterized as “medical minimizers” when it comes to taking action on their own health because they prefer to avoid medical intervention unless it is necessary, a majority (57%) disagreed with the idea of using life expectancy in cancer screening guidelines.

Meanwhile, 70% of all older adults polled don’t consider it a problem if some older adults get cancer screenings even when guidelines don’t recommend them.

The poll team also asked specifically about the 10-year life expectancy limit, which has already become part of some guidelines. In all, 55% of those polled said it was about right, but 27% said it was too short.

The poll is based at the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation and supported by AARP and Michigan Medicine, the University of Michigan’s academic medical center.

“Personalizing cancer screening decisions to each patient’s health situation, rather than using one-size-fits-all age cutoffs, could benefit both very healthy and less healthy patients in different ways,” said Brian Zikmund-Fisher, Ph.D., a health care decision-making researcher and professor from the U-M School of Public Health who worked on the poll. As a result, he notes, “many guidelines recommend considering the patient’s life expectancy.”

“But when it comes to a discussion between a health care provider and an individual patient, personalizing the cancer screening decision essentially means talking about how long that person is expected to live," he added. “It also means sometimes deciding that not doing a screening is actually the healthiest approach.”

Zikmund-Fisher co-directs the U-M Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine, and serves as editor-in-chief of the journals Medical Decision Making and MDM Policy & Practice.

The new findings have special timeliness because of a federal court case that could lead to the end of required insurance coverage for cancer screenings and other preventive care based on national guidelines.

“Right now, insurance plans must cover the cost of cancer screenings for people in the groups covered by guidelines set by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force,” explained poll director Jeffrey Kullgren, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., an associate professor of internal medicine at Michigan Medicine and physician and researcher at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. “Depending on how the courts eventually rule, insurance coverage of some cancer screenings could end for some older adults, because insurers would be allowed to set their own standards for coverage and not have to abide by guidelines.”

In addition, he noted, cancer screening guidelines change if new evidence about who gets the most benefit from them emerges. For instance, a draft USPSTF guideline that may take effect soon lowers the age for the start of screening mammograms to 40, while continuing to find insufficient evidence for screening women over 75.

Percentage of older adults, broken down by race/ethnicity, who feel older adults should be allowed to get cancer screenings even if guidelines don't recommend a screening for them.

CREDIT

University of Michigan

More poll findings

The poll allowed respondents to say whether they disagreed somewhat, or disagreed strongly, with the idea of screening guidelines using life expectancy. In all 26% strongly disagreed with this. Strong disagreement was more common among women than men (30% vs. 21%) and women were more likely than men to disagree with use of life expectancy in guidelines about both continuing screening (62% vs 50%) and stopping screening (66% vs 57%). 

Strong disagreement with use of life expectancy in guidelines about stopping screening was also higher among Black poll respondents than among white or Hispanic respondents (37% vs. 24% vs 28%).

The poll also shows that 74% of white respondents don’t see it as a problem if older adults get screened for cancer against the guidelines that apply to them – compared with 61% of Black and 61% of Hispanic respondents. Zikmund-Fisher notes that white, non-Hispanic Americans tend to have the most access to cancer screening to begin with.

The “medical minimizers” group of poll respondents were those who answered that they tend to lean towards waiting and seeing if action is needed when it comes to situations with their own health where the need for action is not clear, and that they tend to lean towards doing only what is necessary in health decisions.

While 57% of this group disagrees with using life expectancy in cancer screening guidelines, it was much lower than the 73% of those characterized as “medical maximizers,” but not statistically different from the 62% of those whose answers were somewhere in the middle.

The poll report is based on findings from a nationally representative survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago for IHPI and administered online and via phone in January 2023 among 2,563 adults aged 50 to 80. The sample was subsequently weighted to reflect the U.S. population.

Read past National Poll on Healthy Aging reports and about the poll methodology

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METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People