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The European breast screening programmes are preventing large numbers of breast cancer deaths
After considering all
published data from European studies, the reduction in breast cancer
mortality associated with mammographic population-based service screening
programmes is in the range of 25–31% for women invited for screening and
38–48% for women actually screened with sufficient follow-up time.
It appears that much of the current controversy surrounding the value of
mammography screening is due to the use of inappropriate methodological
approaches that are unable to capture the true effect of mammographic
screening. Overall, the results of this first
comprehensive review of European breast screening services show that for
every 1,000 women screened every two years from the age of 50 to the age of
about 68-69, between seven and nine lives would be saved, and four cases
would be over-diagnosed. The European breast screening programmes are
preventing large numbers of breast cancer deaths, and the benefits outweigh
the harms of screening. The programmes should continue to provide high
quality screening services and should work towards achieving targets on
coverage, uptake and assessment rates. In addition, communication
methods should be improved in order to raise women’s awareness, and to
make information on the pros and cons of breast cancer screening more
accessible, relevant and comprehensible
Bibliographic Reference:
Mireille Broeders Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and HTA, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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