FRIDAY, Dec. 7, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Women who have participated in mammography screening have a lower risk for dying from breast cancer within 10 and 20 years after diagnosis, according to a study recently published in Cancer.
László Tabár, M.D., from Falun Central Hospital in Sweden, and colleagues used comprehensive registries in Dalarna County, Sweden, to calculate the annual incidence of breast cancer and the annual incidence of breast cancers that were fatal within 10 years and within 11 to 20 years of diagnosis. Patients included women aged 40 to 69 years who did or did not participate in mammography between 1977 and 2015. Corresponding data from the prescreening period (1958 to 1976) were presented for additional comparison.
The researchers found that compared with the corresponding risks for nonparticipants, women who chose to participate in an organized breast cancer screening program had a 60 percent lower risk for dying from breast cancer within 10 years after diagnosis and a 47 percent lower risk for dying from breast cancer within 20 years after diagnosis (relative risks, 0.4 and 0.53, respectively).
“Our results, from precise, individual-based data covering six decades, should provide women and their physicians with reassurance that participating in regular, high-quality mammography screening is the best way to reduce the risk of a premature death from breast cancer,” the authors write.
One author disclosed financial ties to General Electric Healthcare, Mammography Education, and Three Palm Software.
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