Breast cancer screening does not improve length or quality of life

I was one of the architects of the NHS Breast Cancer Screening Programme (NHSBSP) in 1987-88 and one of the first to point out its flaws in The BMJ in 2013.1 My opening paragraph read, “Each new intake of medical students to my surgical firm started off with a tutorial where I posed a rhetorical question: ‘Why do we screen for cancer?’ To which the inevitable answer would be, ‘To catch it early, sir.’ Wrong. The question should be reframed, as, ‘Does screening for breast cancer improve length or quality of life?’ All other outcomes are surrogates.”Eleven years have flown past, but the more things change, the more they stay the same.2 I challenge all proponents of mammographic screening in any age group to provide any evidence that the NHSBSP has improved length or quality of life. Perhaps a useful surrogate for quality of life might be the reduction in…
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