Letters
Breast screening and mortality
Beware using secular trends in deaths to judge effectiveness of breast screening
BMJ 2013; 347 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f4335 (Published 10 July 2013) Cite this as: BMJ 2013;347:f4335
- David H Brewster, director, Scottish Cancer Registry and honorary clinical senior lecturer, University of Edinburgh1,
- Lesley A Bhatti, senior statistician1,
- Catherine S Thomson, head of statistical information2,
- David A Cameron, professor of oncology, University of Edinburgh and director of cancer services, NHS Lothian3,
- John A Dewar, professor of clinical oncology (retired)4
- 1Information Services Division, NHS National Services Scotland, Edinburgh EH12 9EB, UK
- 2Cancer Research UK, London EC1V 4AD, UK
- 3Edinburgh Cancer Research UK Centre, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh EH4 2XR, UK
- 4Department of Surgery and Molecular Oncology, Medical School, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee DD1 9SY, UK
- David.Brewster{at}nhs.net
At least three papers have now used comparisons of secular trends in age specific mortality in breast cancer to make inferences about the effectiveness of mammographic screening.1 2 3 4 However, Autier et al were circumspect in their interpretation, acknowledging that the “larger reduction in mortality in women <50 years old may reflect better targeting of effective treatments and response to …
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