A longer breast carcinoma screening interval for women age older than 65 years?

✍ Scribed by Rob Boer; Harry J. de Koning; Paul J. van der Maas

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 60 KB
• Volume: 86
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(19991015)86:8<1506::aid-cncr17>3.0.co;2-2

✦ Synopsis

BACKGROUND.

The observed increase in sojourn time for preclinical breast carcinoma raises the question of whether women age Ն 65 years can be screened less frequently than younger women.

METHODS.

A cost-utility analysis using a computer model that simulates the demography, epidemiology, and natural history of breast carcinoma to estimate expected life-years gained, extra incidence, extra life-years with disease, and costs incurred by different breast carcinoma screening programs in the general population was conducted.

RESULTS.

The estimated ratio of favorable/unfavorable effects was lower for longer screening intervals compared with shorter screening intervals. The cost-effectiveness ratio was much less favorable in shorter screening intervals.

CONCLUSIONS.

The results of the current analysis showed that although a longer sojourn time for preclinical breast carcinoma should not necessarily be accompanied by a longer screening interval, a shorter screening interval was not very efficient.