Are the harms of false-positive screening test results minimal or meaningful?
Mené aux Etats-Unis à partir d'entretiens auprès de 1 226 femmes invitées à participer à un dépistage du cancer du sein, cet essai multicentrique analyse leur niveau d'anxiété et leurs attitudes vis-à-vis d'un futur examen de dépistage après une mammographie dont le résultat s'est révélé faussement positif
That most screening test results will be normal or negative is commonplace, but the reality that abnormal results are frequently false-positive is not always well appreciated, nor is it fully conveyed to patients. How does a patient feel after a false-positive test result? Tosteson and colleagues1 concluded from their longitudinal study that “false-positive mammograms are associated with a measurable, small, and transient effect on personal anxiety.” However, a closer look at all the outcomes assessed in this well-done study reveal some adverse consequences that, although not serious, may nonetheless be meaningful.
JAMA Internal Medicine , commentaire, 2013