Will Screening Mammography in the East Do More Harm than Good?
Gabriel M. Leung, MD, MPH,
Tai-Hing Lam, MD,
Thuan Q. Thach, PhD and
Anthony J. Hedley, MD
Gabriel M. Leung, Tai-Hing Lam, Thuan Q. Thach, and Anthony J. Hedley are with the Department of Community Medicine, University of Hong Kong Medical Centre, Hong Kong.
Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to G. M. Leung, MD, MPH, Department of Community Medicine, 21 Sassoon Road, Patrick Manson Building, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong (e-mail: gmleung{at}hku.hk).
Objectives. We sought to systematically review the evidencefor population-based mammography as applied to a Chinese population.
Methods. Primary reports for meta-analysis were identified bya search of MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library. Outcome measuresincluded breast cancerrelated mortality, the number neededto be screened to prevent 1 death, and the positive predictivevalue of mammography.
Results. Pooled relative risk for breast cancerrelateddeath in the screened group was 0.80 (95% confidence interval= 0.71, 0.90). Applied to Hong Kong, this figure translatesinto a number needed to screen of 1 302 healthy women screenedannually for 10 years to prevent 1 death. Conclusions. Evidenceis insufficient to justify population-based breast cancer screeningby mammography for women in Hong Kong and other Asian populationswith low breast cancer prevalence.
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