Doubts about the preventive efficacy of mammography
The report, six European countries (Ireland, Northern Ireland, Belgium, Holland, Sweden and the UK) concludes that the difference between the time of implementation of preventive tests like mammograms for breast cancer and the similarity in Mortality among these countries (from 23% to 25%) suspect that these tests do not play a preventive role in reducing direct mortality from this disease.
Moreover, this study argues that the biggest drop in breast cancer mortality was observed in women over 50 who had not undergone any screening test in the countries studied.
This leads us to conclude that the recent downward trend in mortality from this condition may be more related to improvements in treatment and service delivery.
The study based on mortality data from the World Health Organization proposed to prove otherwise. Specifically, the introduction of screening tests in Europe had a direct relationship with the decline in mortality from breast cancer in those countries which had included these tests compared with those who had delayed their implementation.
Although the article makes no reference to Spanish data is a reality that in the last decade, mortality from this disease in Spain has decreased by 1.4% annually and there is a strong social awareness of these cancer screening and prevention. "The first campaign to raise awareness about this disease was in 2006," said a spokesman for the Ministry of Health.
The result of the study opens a door to a possible new approach to the current screening system and may even be a potential healthcare savings measure.