Mammography screening reduces the rates of advanced and fatal breast cancers, according to an analysis of more than half a million women involving researchers from Queen Mary University of London.
The study, involving teams from Falun Central Hospital in Sweden and published in the journal Cancer, examined data on nearly one-third of the women in Sweden who were eligible for mammography screening.
Among these 549,091 women, the investigators calculated the rates of advanced breasts cancers and cancers that were fatal within 10 years of diagnosis, comparing the findings in women who participated in recommended mammography screening and those who did not.
The team found a 41 percent reduction in cancers that were fatal within 10 years after diagnosis and a 25 percent reduction in the incidence of advanced breast cancer in women who participated in screening.
Study author Professor Stephen Duffy from Queen Mary’s Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine said: “These results from half a million women bear out our previous findings that even in these days of effective treatments, early detection of breast cancer continues to save lives.”
For media information, contact: