Should women under 50 be screened for breast cancer?
Despite some controversy in recent years, the majority of experts agree on the evidence for effectiveness of breast screening by mammography for women aged 50 years and above, but for those under 50 years, the picture is much less clear. However, the issue remains of importance both to policy makers and to individual women; although the incidence of breast cancer is lower at younger ages, the life years lost due to cancers diagnosed below 50 years amount to a third of all those lost due to the disease.
Moss
S
S
Institute of Cancer Research Cancer Screening, Evaluation Unit Block D, 15 Cotswold Road, Suuton, Surrey SM52 5NG, UK. sue.moss@icr.ac.uk
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic