Accepting the existence of breast cancer overdiagnosis
Menée à partir de données danoises sur la période 1980-2010, cette étude analyse l'évolution de l'incidence des cancers du sein de stade avancé (taille de la tumeur supérieure à 20 mm) et de stade précoce (taille inférieure ou égale à 20 mm) avant et après la mise en place de programmes biennaux de dépistage du cancer du sein par mammographie ciblant les femmes de 50 à 69 ans, puis estime les taux de surdiagnostic pour l'année 2010
Jørgensen and colleagues compare breast cancer incidence and death rates in several areas of Denmark where screening was introduced at various times in the 1990s. Although the incidence of localized disease increased with the introduction of screening, the incidence of advanced disease has not decreased. They estimate that screen-detected breast tumors have an overdiagnosis rate of 14.7% to 38.6% (excluding ductal carcinoma in situ). This is the latest of several studies using various methods and data sets to show that the phenomenon of overdiagnosis exists in breast cancer. Estimates of this overdiagnosis rate vary but range up to 54% of screen-detected localized tumors, with most estimates between 15% and 25%.
Annals of Internal Medicine , éditorial, 2016