Healthy Skepticism Library item: 15435

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

The trouble with screening
The Lancet 2009 Apr 11; 373:(9671):1223
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2809%2960701-7/fulltext

Abstract:

It seems so simple: if a screening test can detect future disease in an otherwise healthy person, why not be tested? The answer is far from simple. For example, the debate about screening mammography for breast cancer continues to rumble. In an April 2 paper in BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making , John Keen and James Keen calculate that such screening started at age 50 and repeated will, over 15 years, avert 1·8 deaths from breast cancer per 1000 women screened. The …