The Hidden Cost Of False-Positive Mammograms

Date: Jun-18-2012False-positive mammogram results deter women from attending further screening appointments
and undermine the effectiveness of breast cancer screening programs, according to a study
published in the 18 June issue of the Medical Journal of Australia.

Dr Elizabeth Wylie from BreastScreen WA, and coauthors found that 70.7% of Western Australian
women with a true-negative screening result returned to screening within 27 months compared
with 67.6% of women who received a false-positive result (when a mammogram is positive but
there is no breast cancer found with further tests).

Additionally, women who had a false-positive mammogram followed by an invasive procedure
were less likely to participate in rescreening than those who had further imaging alone.
"Our results show that women with a false-positive [mammogram] are deterred, to a small extent,
from participation in future screenings", the authors wrote.

According to the authors, around 44 out of 1000 women receive false-positive screening results at
BreastScreen WA, the state branch of BreastScreen Australia.

They wrote that although this number was small, the combined effect over time might be
considerable given that 32.4% of women who start screening at age 50 and who participate in 10
consecutive screening rounds were likely to have at least one false-positive recall.

BreastScreen WA screens about 55% of Western Australian women aged 50-69 years every 2
years - but it had noted falling participation rates over recent years that could not be explained by
attrition to private mammography.

The authors concluded that mammographic screening services should try to keep their falsepositive
result rates low to prevent women being deterred from screening. Courtesy: Medical News Today Note: Any medical information available in this news section is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional.