Continuation of Annual Screening Mammography and Breast Cancer Mortality in Women Older Than 70 Years
Authors: Xabier García-Albéniz, Miguel A. Hernán, John Hsu
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2020)

Letters4 August 2020Continuation of Annual Screening Mammography and Breast Cancer Mortality in Women Older Than 70 YearsXabier García-Albéniz, MD, PhD, Miguel A. Hernán, MD, DrPH, and John Hsu, MD, MBA, MSCEXabier García-Albéniz, MD, PhDRTI Health Solutions, Barcelona, Spain (X.G.), Miguel A. Hernán, MD, DrPHHarvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Boston, Massachusetts (M.A.H.), and John Hsu, MD, MBA, MSCEMassachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts (J.H.)Author, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/L20-0827 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail IN RESPONSE:We share Dr. Bennett and colleagues' belief that decisions about continuing breast cancer screening should be shared exercises between patients and their physicians. We also are delighted that Dr. Bennett and colleagues believe that our results may help guide such discussions.We agree with Dr. Gupta and associates that decisions based entirely on age or any other single characteristic are problematic. Our study quantified the mortality benefit associated with screening at older ages. We did not address either preexisting morbidity or morbidity associated with screening decisions, but our study was done in women with good life expectancy. Patients ...References1. Siu AL; U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Screening for breast cancer: U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation statement. Ann Intern Med. 2016;164:279-296. [PMID: 26757170]. doi:10.7326/M15-2886 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. 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 Scholar4. 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 Scholar5. Nelson HD, Fu R, Cantor A, et al. Effectiveness of breast cancer screening: systematic review and meta-analysis to update the 2009 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation. Ann Intern Med. 2016;164:244-255. [PMID: 26756588]. doi:10.7326/M15-0969 LinkGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: RTI Health Solutions, Barcelona, Spain (X.G.)Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Boston, Massachusetts (M.A.H.)Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts (J.H.)Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M18-1199. 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 Dipti Gupta , David Schacht , and Pragya A. Dang 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 Cited byEffectiveness of Mammography Screening on Breast Cancer Mortality – A Study Protocol for Emulation of Target Trials Using German Health Claims Data 4 August 2020Volume 173, Issue 3Page: 247KeywordsBreast cancerCancer screeningDisclosureHazard ratioImaging techniquesLife expectancyMammographyMorbidityMortality ePublished: 4 August 2020 Issue Published: 4 August 2020 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2020 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...