Skip to main content

Overdiagnosis Common With Continued Breast Cancer Screening in Seniors

Medically reviewed by Drugs.com.

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 9, 2023 -- Continued breast cancer screening among women aged 70 years and older is associated with an increased incidence of breast cancer, indicating overdiagnosis, according to a study published online Aug. 8 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Ilana B. Richman, M.D., from the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues estimated overdiagnosis in a retrospective cohort study comparing the cumulative incidence of breast cancer among women aged 70 years and older who had recently been screened and who continued or did not continue screening in the next interval. Data were included for 54,635 women, who were followed for breast cancer diagnoses and breast cancer death for up to 15 years of follow-up.

The researchers found that the adjusted cumulative incidence of breast cancer was 6.1 versus 4.2 cases per 100 screened and unscreened women aged 70 to 74 years. Among screened women, an estimated 31 percent of breast cancers were potentially overdiagnosed. The cumulative incidence was 4.9 versus 2.6 per 100 screened and unscreened women among those aged 75 to 84 years, with potential overdiagnosis for 47 percent of cases. The cumulative incidence was 2.8 and 1.3 per 100 screened and unscreened women, respectively, aged 85 years and older, with overdiagnosis of up to 54 percent. No significant reductions were seen in breast cancer-specific death associated with screening.

"Overdiagnosis should be explicitly considered when making screening decisions, along with considering possible benefits of screening," the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)

Editorial (subscription or payment may be required)

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted August 2023

Read this next

Neighborhood Deprivation Only Tied to Breast Cancer Mortality for White Women

FRIDAY, June 14, 2024 -- Factors aside from neighborhood deprivation are responsible for increased breast cancer mortality among Black women, according to a study published online...

ENDO: Early Menopause Tied to Heightened Risk for Breast, Ovarian Cancer

TUESDAY, June 11, 2024 -- Women with early menopause have a two times greater risk for breast cancer and a nearly four times higher risk for ovarian cancer, according to a study...

AI Cuts Radiologists' Workload in Mammography Screening

TUESDAY, June 11, 2024 -- Implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) into a population-based mammography screening program reduced the overall workload of radiologists while...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.