Leaflets about breast screening are misleading

Informed participation in screening programmes requires that the people screened know the aims and risks and benefits of the programme. To assess the information given to women attending for breast cancer screening Slaytor and Ward (p 263) examined 59 leaflets used by cancer organisations and screening programmes in Australia and scored each against a 10 item scoresheet. The commonest information given was lifetime risk of developing breast cancer (which varied from 1 in 11 to 1 in 16): only one leaflet gave information on the risk of dying, though screening reduces mortality, not incidence. The benefits of screening were most commonly expressed as relative risk reductions (varying from 30% to 50%). Only 15 leaflets gave the sensitivity of mammography and none gave the specificity. None gave positive predictive value or numbers needed to screen to prevent one death.


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Relevant Article

How risks of breast cancer and benefits of screening are communicated to women: analysis of 58 pamphlets
Emma K Slaytor and Jeanette E Ward
BMJ 1998 317: 263-264. [Full Text] [PDF]

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