Screening programs that include women in their 40s are associated with significantly higher breast cancer 10-year net survival (NS) for women aged 40-49, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Researchers examined a cohort of women aged 40-49 and 50-59 diagnosed with breast cancer from 2002 to 2007. Ten-year NS estimates in the jurisdictions with organized screening programs that included women aged 40-49 (screeners) were compared with comparator programs that did not. For women aged 40-49 with breast cancer diagnoses, it was the primary cause of 10-year mortality (90.7% of deaths). The 10-year NS was 1.9 percentage points higher for screeners versus comparators among these women (84.8% vs 82.9%). The difference in favor of screeners was significant for women aged 45-49, but not for those aged 40-44. Among women aged 40- 49 and 45-49, but not for those aged 40-44, the incidence-based breast cancer mortality rate was significantly lower in screener jurisdictions.
