medwireNews: Extending mammography screening to include women in their 40s may reduce breast cancer mortality rates compared with a later screening induction without increasing the risk for overdiagnosis, the UK Age trial investigators report.
“Yearly mammography before age 50 years, commencing at age 40 or 41 years, was associated with a relative reduction in breast cancer mortality, which was attenuated after 10 years, although the absolute reduction remained constant,” report Stephen Duffy, from Queen Mary University of London in the UK, and co-authors in The Lancet Oncology.
The study, performed at 23 UK screening units, included 53,883 women aged 39–41 years old, who were invited to undergo annual mammography up to and including the age of 48 years and followed up for a median 22.8 years. (Read more…}