Quantifying the benefits and harms of screening mammography.

I have covered the benefits and harms from screening mammography over the years (see my web site) but more recent information is very interesting. Note – this only refers to screening mammography.  If you have a lump or other abnormality of the breast, mammography is essential.
JAMA Intern Med. 2014 Mar;174(3):448-54. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.13635.

Quantifying the benefits and harms of screening mammography.

Abstract

Like all early detection strategies, screening mammography involves trade-offs. If women are to truly participate in the decision of whether or not to be screened, they need some quantification of its benefits and harms. Providing such information is a challenging task, however, given the uncertainty–and underlying professional disagreement–about the data. In this article, we attempt to bound this uncertainty by providing a range of estimates-optimistic and pessimistic–on the absolute frequency of 3 outcomes important to the mammography decision: breast cancer deaths avoided, false alarms, and overdiagnosis. Among 1000 US women aged 50 years who are screened annually for a decade, 0.3 to 3.2 will avoid a breast cancer death, 490 to 670 will have at least 1 false alarm, and 3 to 14 will be overdiagnosed and treated needlessly. We hope that these ranges help women to make a decision: either to feel comfortable about their decision to pursue screening or to feel equally comfortable about their decision not to pursue screening. For the remainder, we hope it helps start a conversation about where additional precision is most needed.

About Dr Colin Holloway

Gp interested in natural hormone treatment for men and women of all ages

Posted on April 8, 2018, in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Comments Off on Quantifying the benefits and harms of screening mammography..

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