BMJ  2005;331:351 (6 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7512.351

Letter

Model of outcomes of screening mammography

Women's decisions about screening depend on many factors

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—All women would like accurate and balanced information to help them decide whether or not to participate in screening programmes. So the question is whether the information presented by Barratt et al in their article actually provides accurate or balanced information.1 We have our doubts about this.

The article is based on assumptions about the "harms" associated with false positive results from screening. Although we acknowledge these harms, we would argue that the harms associated with false negative results are even greater. False negatives may lead to death. Most women would be prepared to cope with the problems of anxiety, etc, if they understood that there was a trade-off with the possibility of death.

The next issue is how accurate these "estimates" are. We are not in a position to argue this at the present time; the statisticians will need to get to work to be able to . . . [Full text of this article]

Sue M Lockwood, chair

lockwood@bigpond.com
Rosetta Manaszewicz committee member Breast Cancer Action Group, PO Box 281, Fairfield, Victoria 3130, Australia

Nicola Bruce, committee member, Rosetta Manaszewicz, committee member

Breast Cancer Action Group, PO Box 281, Fairfield, Victoria 3130, Australia


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Relevant Article

Model of outcomes of screening mammography: information to support informed choices
Alexandra Barratt, Kirsten Howard, Les Irwig, Glenn Salkeld, and Nehmat Houssami
BMJ 2005 330: 936. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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