Overdiagnosis of Invasive Breast Cancer due to Mammography Screening
Authors: Per-Henrik Zahl
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2012)

Letters7 August 2012Overdiagnosis of Invasive Breast Cancer due to Mammography ScreeningPer-Henrik Zahl, DrMedSciPer-Henrik Zahl, DrMedSciFrom Norwegian Institute of Public Health, N-0403 Oslo, Norway.Author, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-157-3-201208070-00024 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail TO THE EDITOR:Kalager and colleagues (1) reported a 15% to 25% overdiagnosis rate of invasive cancer in the Norwegian Breast Cancer Screening Program. In 2004, my coworkers and I reported (2) that screening led to a 51% increase in breast cancer cases that could not be explained by earlier diagnosis and called this increase overdiagnosis. We updated our study in 2012 (3) and reported the same high level of overdiagnosis. Our updated study had longer follow-up and included 11 631 breast cancer cases diagnosed after screening started, whereas Kalager and colleagues' analysis included only 3862 cases. The difference in estimates ...References1. Kalager M, Adami HO, Bretthauer M, Tamimi RM. Overdiagnosis of invasive breast cancer due to mammography screening: results from the Norwegian screening program. Ann Intern Med. 2012;156:491-9. [PMID: 22473436] LinkGoogle Scholar2. Zahl PH, Strand BH, Maehlen J. Incidence of breast cancer in Norway and Sweden during introduction of nationwide screening: prospective cohort study. BMJ. 2004;328:921-4. [PMID: 15013948] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Zahl PH, Mæhlen J. Overdiagnosis of breast cancer after 14 years of mammography screening. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2012;132:414-7. [PMID: 22353833] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. Zahl PH, Maehlen J, Welch HG. The natural history of invasive breast cancers detected by screening mammography [Letter]. Arch Intern Med. 2009;169:1000-1. Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: From Norwegian Institute of Public Health, N-0403 Oslo, Norway.Disclosures: None disclosed. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoOverdiagnosis of Invasive Breast Cancer Due to Mammography Screening: Results From the Norwegian Screening Program Mette Kalager , Hans-Olov Adami , Michael Bretthauer , and Rulla M. Tamimi Overdiagnosis of Invasive Breast Cancer due to Mammography Screening Mette Kalager , Hans-Olov Adami , Michael Bretthauer , and Rulla M. Tamimi Overdiagnosis of Invasive Breast Cancer due to Mammography Screening Ragnhild Sørum Falk , Solveig Hofvind , and Per Skaane Overdiagnosis of Invasive Breast Cancer due to Mammography Screening Karsten J. Jørgensen Overdiagnosis of Invasive Breast Cancer due to Mammography Screening Tor Haldorsen , Steinar Tretli , and Giske Ursin Metrics Cited byDetection of early breast cancer beyond mammographic screening: a promising biomarker panelMammography screening: A major issue in medicineA novel case-control design to estimate the extent of over-diagnosis of breast cancer due to organised population-based mammography screening 7 August 2012Volume 157, Issue 3Page: 220-221KeywordsAge groupsBreast cancerBreast cancer screeningCancer screeningConflicts of interestHormonesMammography ePublished: 7 August 2012 Issue Published: 7 August 2012 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2012 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...