More mammograms, less cancer death risk

Women who have had at least three screening mammograms cut their chances of dying of breast cancer in half, Dutch researchers found. Suzie Otto, a senior researcher in the department of public health at the Erasmus MC at Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and colleagues observed 755 patients who died of breast cancer during 1995 to 2003 and matched them with 3,739 controls. Among the breast cancer cases, 29.8 percent were detected at screening, 34.3 percent were detected between screenings and 35.9 percent had never been screened, the study found. However, Stage IV tumors were present in 29.5 percent of the never-screened cases but only 5.3 percent of the screen-detected cases, and if women attended at least three screenings prior to diagnosis, their risk for mortality from breast cancer reduced by 49 percent, Otto said. The greatest reduction was seen in women ages 70-75, where the reduction in mortality was 84 percent. Among women age 50-69, the reduction was smaller, at 39 percent, but still statistically significant, Otto added. "Our study adds further evidence that mammography screening unambiguously reduces breast cancer mortality," Otto said in a statement. The study was published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Bio markers & Prevention