Overdue & Lost to Follow-Up
What does it mean to be “Overdue for Follow-Up”?
If an individual is “Overdue for Follow-Up,” the patient has been recommended to have a follow-up appointment after an initial visit but has not had this recommended follow-up exam. These individuals are “Overdue for Follow-Up” after an initial visit.
What does it mean to be “Lost to Follow-Up”?
If an individual is “Lost to Follow-up,” the patient, who has received an initial mammogram and was recommended for a follow-up, has not gone through with this subsequent appointment/imaging. According to "Women With Abnormal Screening Mammography Lost To Follow-Up," the most common reason that a patient is lost to follow-up is “having no time” (Kuo et al., 2016).
Sources:
Kuo, C. S., Chen, G. R., Hung, S. H., Liu, Y. L., Huang, K. C., & Cheng, S. Y. (2016). Women with abnormal screening mammography lost to follow-up: An experience from Taiwan. Medicine, 95(24), e3889. https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000003889