Breast cancer screening benefits ‘overrated’

The benefits of breast cancer screening are vastly over- estimated as the figures do not back them up in practice, scientists who conducted an in-depth review of principal trials have said.

The team looked at studies on screening for breast, colorectal, cervical, prostate, and lung cancers that were started in Sweden in the 1960s and 70s. They suggested mammography could reduce deaths by 20-25%, the results of which made screening more widespread.

But the new research found rates have not decreased as much as expected.