title: Residual confounding after adjustment for age: a minor issue in breast cancer screening effectiveness.
abstract: Residual confounding, after adjustment for age, is the major criticism of observational studies on breast cancer screening effectiveness. We developed realistic scenarios for the prevalence and strength of risk factors on screened and not screened groups, and explored the impact of residual confounding bias. Our results demonstrate that residual confounding bias is a minor issue in screening programme evaluations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and HTA, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, The Netherlands. g.vanschoor@ebh.umcn.nl
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: van Schoor
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Paap
authors.forename: Mireille J M
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Broeders
authors.forename: André L M
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Verbeek
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009313:National Health Programs; D009426:Netherlands; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012307:Risk Factors