Annual Mammography Screening Tied to Better Outcomes

TUESDAY, Sept. 3, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Annual mammography screening for breast cancer is associated with a lower risk for a late-stage diagnosis and better overall survival across clinical and demographic subgroups, according to a study published online Aug. 21 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Margarita L. Zuley, M.D., from University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues evaluated late-stage cancer rates and overall survival for different mammography screening intervals using a real-world institutional research data mart. The analysis included 8,145 patients with both a cancer registry record of new breast cancer diagnosis and prediagnosis screening history between 2004 and 2019.

The researchers found that the percentage of late-stage cancers diagnosed increased significantly with screening interval: 9 percent for annual, 14 percent for biennial, and 19 percent for intermittent screening. When adjusting for age, race, and menopausal status, findings persisted. Additionally, biennial and intermittent screening groups had substantially worse overall survival than those screened annually (hazard ratios, 1.42 and 2.69, respectively).

"We recognize that there are potential harms associated with calling women back for additional screening, but I don't think that these harms outweigh the risk of missing cancers and women dying as a result," Zuley said in a statement. "We're also working on testing screening tools that have lower false positives than mammography and pushing on every front to identify the most cost-effective and accurate way of taking care of our patients."

Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical and medical imaging industries.

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