Mammography Screening Shows Limited Effect On Breast Cancer ...

Breast cancer mortality statistics in Sweden are consistent with studies that have reported that screening has limited or no impact on breast cancer mortality among women aged 40-69, according to a study published July 17 in the Journal of The National Cancer Institute.
Since 1974, Swedish women aged 40-69 have increasingly been offered mammography screening, with nationwide coverage peaking in 1997. Researchers set out to determine if mortality trends would be reflected accordingly.
In order to determine this, Philippe Autier, M.D., of the International Prevention Research Institute (iPRI) in France and colleagues, looked at data from the Swedish Board of Health and Welfare from 1960-2009 to analyze trends in breast cancer mortality in women aged age 40 and older by the county in which they lived. The researchers compared actual mortality trends with the theoretical outcomes using models in which screening would result in mortality reductions of 10%, 20%, and 30%.
The researchers expected that screening would be associated with a gradual reduction in mortality, especially because Swedish mammography trials and observational studies have suggested that mammography leads to a reduction in breast cancer mortality. In this study, however, they found that breast cancer mortality rates in Swedish women started to decrease in 1972, before the introduction of mammography, and have continued to decline at a rate similar to that in the prescreening period. ?It seems paradoxical that the downward trends in breast cancer mortality in Sweden have evolved practically as if screening had never existed,? they write. ?Swedish breast cancer mortality statistics are consistent with studies that show limited or no impact of screening on mortality from breast cancer.?
The researchers do note certain limitations of their study ? namely, that it was observational, so unable to take into account the potential influence of other breast cancer risk factors such as obesity, which may have masked the effect of screening on mortality. They also write that population mobility may have biased the results.

Source: http://prn.fm/2012/07/20/mammography-screening-shows-limited-effect-breast-cancer-mortality-sweden/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mammography-screening-shows-limited-effect-breast-cancer-mortality-sweden

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