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Effect of false‐positive screening mammograms on rescreening in Western Australia
Author(s) -
Sim Marcus J H,
Siva Siva Prema,
Ramli Intan S,
Fritschi Lin,
Tresham Janette,
Wylie Elizabeth J
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/mja11.10892
Subject(s) - medicine , obstetrics , gynecology , population , mammography , demography , breast cancer , cancer , environmental health , sociology
Objectives: To quantify the effect of previous false‐positive mammogram results on rescreening rates in a population of women participating in the BreastScreen WA (BSWA) program. Design and participants: Retrospective cohort study of women aged 50–69 years who received free screening mammograms at BSWA between 1 January 1995 and 31 December 2007. Main outcome measures: Percentages of women attending rescreening, and risk ratios for rescreening. Results: A total of 22 396 screening mammograms were falsely reported as positive, and 560 333 mammogram screens were reported as normal (negative). Women with a false‐positive index mammogram result were less likely than women with a true‐negative index mammogram result to attend rescreening at 27 months (67.6% v 70.7%; risk ratio, 0.96; P < 0.001). A reduced rescreening rate was seen in all subgroups of women except Indigenous women. Rescreening rates were affected by the types of assessment done at the recall visit. Conclusion: Mammographic population screening services should keep their false‐positive result rates low, to prevent women from being deterred from screening.