OnMedica – News – Breast cancer screening linked to significantly less risk of death

Women who do breast examinations are 60% less likely to die of breast cancer in the first 10 years

Women who participate in breast screening have a significantly greater benefit from treatments than those who are not screened, according to a survey * of more than 50,000 women published in Cancer.

The study, which was funded by the American Cancer Society and used data about women in Sweden, found that women who chose to participate in an organized breast cancer screening program had a 60% lower risk of dying from breast cancer within 10 years of diagnosis , and a 47% lower risk of dying from breast cancer within 20 years of diagnosis.

The study included 52,438 women aged 40 to 69 in the county of Dalarna, Sweden, for 39 years of screening (1977-2015). All patients received stage-specific treatment according to the latest national guidelines, regardless of the method of detection.

The annual incidence of breast cancer was calculated together with the annual incidence of breast cancer that was fatal within 10 and within 11 to 20 years of diagnosis in women aged 40 to 69 who did or did not participate in mammography screening during the 39-year period (1977-2015) .

The results showed that women who opted to participate in an organized breast cancer screening program had a 60% lower risk of dying from breast cancer within 10 years of diagnosis (relative risk, 0.40, 95% confidence interval, 0.34 -0.48) and a 47% lower risk of death from breast cancer within 20 years of diagnosis (relative risk, 0.53, 95% confidence interval, 0.44-0.63) compared with the corresponding risks for non-participants.

The researchers said that this benefit occurs because screening detects cancer at an earlier stage, which means that they respond much better to the treatment.

Senior author Professor Stephen Duffy of Queen Mary University in London said: "Recent improvements in treatments have led to a reduction in mortality from breast cancer, but these new results show the essential role that screening should play, giving women a much greater advantage. have modern treatments and we need to ensure that participation in breast examinations improves, especially in socio-economically disadvantaged areas. "

In the United Kingdom, mammography screening is offered to all women aged 50-70 through the NHS Breast Screening program, with a participation rate of on average more than 70%, but strongly varying across the country, with lower percentages in poorer parts of the population. the inner city.