To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: Breast Cancer Screening In Younger Women Is Of Benefit, Study Shows URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/102C2E.htm Doctor's Guide June 4, 1999
LONDON, ENGLAND -- June 4, 1999 -- The benefits of breast cancer screening in women aged 50 years and older is now well established. However, whether there will be any advantage in screening women younger than 50 has been the subject of much debate. In this week's issue of The Lancet, the U.K. Trial of Early Detection of Breast Cancer (TEDBC -- co-ordinated by the Institute of Cancer Research) and the Edinburgh randomised trial, two long-term trials of breast-cancer screening, now confirm that screening leads to a reduction in breast-cancer mortality and that there is a benefit in screening women younger than 50 years of age. TEDBC assessed the difference between U.K. screening centres (45,607 women in Guildford and Edinburgh), breast self-examination education centres (63,373 women in Huddersfield and Nottingham), and comparison centres (127,123 women in Dundee, Oxford, Southmead and Stoke on Trent), which offered no intervention, in a study that followed up women for 16 years. They found that breast-cancer mortality was 27 percent lower in the screening centres than in the comparison centres, although no mortality reduction was seen in the breast self-examination centres. The researchers also found that the decrease in mortality did not differ between age-groups, which indicated that there is a benefit in screening women at a younger age. Dr. F. Alexander and colleagues from the University of Edinburgh, studied breast-cancer mortality in 54,654 women from general medical practices, who were followed up for 14 years. In the study, 28,628 women were offered screening and 26,026 in the control group received routine health care - 10,020 women did not attend the screening sessions and received routine health care. Initial results showed a difference of just 13 percent in breast-cancer mortality between the screening group and controls. However, after adjustment for socio-economic status, they found that breast-cancer mortality rates were 21 percent lower in the screening group. "The results for younger women suggest benefit from introduction of screening before 50 years of age," the researchers said. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet* located at http://www.docguide.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to News Story Page This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs. All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved.