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A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine examined breast cancer overdiagnosis among women aged 70 years or older in the United States who had recently been screened. The study found that there was no compensatory decline in breast cancer incidence over time, indicating that mammography screening does not lead to appreciably earlier diagnosis. The study also highlighted the challenges in presenting estimates of overdiagnosis and the confusion it can cause for physicians and women. The authors suggested that mammography screening may detect lesions that resemble cancer but do not grow like cancer does. [Extracted from the article]

The longest published estimate of MST from the randomized trials included in the Independent UK Panel on Breast Cancer Screening review that we have found is 3.3 years (with 71% sensitivity) ([4]). The Independent UK Panel on Breast Cancer Screening ([3]) estimated that 19% of cases of cancer detected during the time a screening program is running are overdiagnosed. B TO THE EDITOR: b Ryser and colleagues ([1]) use a lead-time model to predict that 1 in 7 cases of screen-detected breast cancer will be overdiagnosed in a contemporary U.S. setting. [Extracted from the article]