Declining Breast Cancer Mortality: The Role of Screening and Adjuvant Therapy

From 1975 to 2000, the age-adjusted rate of death from breast cancer in the U.S. dropped by 21% (from about 48 to 38 deaths per 100,000 women). In a recent study sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, seven investigative groups used independent models to estimate the contributions of screening (mammography) and adjuvant therapy (chemotherapy and tamoxifen) to this decline. All groups gathered data from the same sources, including the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program; the National Center for Health Statistics; and the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium.

The proportion of women aged 40 to 79 who had never been screened declined from about 75% in 1985 to about 15% in 2000. Likewise, from 1975 to 2000, there were drama…