Continuation of Annual Screening Mammography and Breast Cancer Mortality in Women Older Than 70 Years
Authors: Dipti Gupta, David Schacht, Pragya A. Dang
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2020)

Letters4 August 2020Continuation of Annual Screening Mammography and Breast Cancer Mortality in Women Older Than 70 YearsDipti Gupta, MD, David Schacht, MD, and Pragya A. Dang, MDDipti Gupta, MDFeinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois (D.G., D.S.)Search for more papers by this author, David Schacht, MDFeinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois (D.G., D.S.)Search for more papers by this author, and Pragya A. Dang, MDNewton-Wellesley Hospital, Newton, Massachusetts (P.A.D.)Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/L20-0842 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail TO THE EDITOR:We read García-Albéniz and colleagues' study (1) using observational data and modeling to support cessation of screening mammography at age 75 years with interest. The authors minimize the proven benefits of screening mammography in older age groups. Although the randomized controlled trials of screening mammography did not include women aged 75 years or older, abundant data show that women in this age group benefit from screening mammography.A Mammography National Database study including 2.5 million women showed a statistically significant increase in cancer detection rates and a decrease in recall rates with increasing age (2). These results ...References1. García-Albéniz X, Hernán MA, Logan RW, et al. Continuation of annual screening mammography and breast cancer mortality in women older than 70 years. Ann Intern Med. 2020;172:381-389. [PMID: 32092767]. doi:10.7326/M18-1199 LinkGoogle Scholar2. Lee CS, Sengupta D, Bhargavan-Chatfield M, et al. Association of patient age with outcomes of current-era, large-scale screening mammography: analysis of data from the National Mammography Database [Letter]. JAMA Oncol. 2017;3:1134-1136. [PMID: 28426842] doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2017.0482 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Braithwaite D, Walter LC, Izano M, et al. Benefits and harms of screening mammography by comorbidity and age: a qualitative synthesis of observational studies and decision analyses. J Gen Intern Med. 2016;31:561-572. [PMID: 26831305] doi:10.1007/s11606-015-3580-3 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. McCarthy EP, Burns RB, Freund KM, et al. Mammography use, breast cancer stage at diagnosis, and survival among older women. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2000;48:1226-1233. [PMID: 11037009] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. Tabár L, Vitak B, Chen TH, et al. Swedish Two-County Trial: impact of mammographic screening on breast cancer mortality during 3 decades. Radiology. 2011;260:658-663. [PMID: 21712474] doi:10.1148/radiol.11110469 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois (D.G., D.S.)Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Newton, Massachusetts (P.A.D.)Disclosures: Authors have disclosed no conflicts of interest. Forms can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=L20-0842. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoContinuation of Annual Screening Mammography and Breast Cancer Mortality in Women Older Than 70 Years Xabier García-Albéniz , Miguel A. Hernán , Roger W. Logan , Mary Price , Katrina Armstrong , and John Hsu Continuation of Annual Screening Mammography and Breast Cancer Mortality in Women Older Than 70 Years Xabier García-Albéniz , Miguel A. Hernán , and John Hsu Continuation of Annual Screening Mammography and Breast Cancer Mortality in Women Older Than 70 Years Debbie L. Bennett , Catherine M. Appleton , and Michelle V. Lee Metrics 4 August 2020Volume 173, Issue 3Page: 246-247KeywordsAge groupsBreast cancerForecastingInterquartile rangeLife expectancyMammographyMorbidityMortalityObservational studiesSystematic reviews ePublished: 4 August 2020 Issue Published: 4 August 2020 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2020 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...