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Adverse effects

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Adverse effects of mammographic breast screening include:

radiation risk - estimated that one extra breast cancer develops each year in women over 50 years, after a latent period of up to 10 years, for each million women screened
psychological and physical morbidity - mainly associated with false-positive screens - about two thirds of screen detected abnormalities are found to be unimportant on further mammography or ultrasound scanning
diagnosis of cancer that would not have become symptomatic during the woman's lifetime - in breast cancer, the natural history is not fully understood nor is there a clearly recognisable early stage of the disease. This carries the risk that some women will be subjected to further investigation and treatment which is unnecessary
resource costs - both real and opportunity costs of the screening programme
false-negatives - approximately 5% of cancers in women over the age of 50 years are mammographically invisible

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