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Mammography screening for very old women is controversial, because no randomized trials of such screening have been conducted in older populations (JW Gen Med Mar 26 2009). In this prospective cohort study from three outpatient clinics in Boston, researchers tracked mammography screening and breast cancer outcomes in 2011 very old women (age, ≥80 at the beginning of the observation period) who were followed for 2 to 12 years (median, 5 years).
Half the women underwent mammography (average, about 2.5 mammograms per screened patient), and half did not. Twenty-eight breast cancers (including 8 ductal carcinomas in situ) were diagnosed among mammography recipients, and 20 were diagnosed among women who did not undergo mammography (half by clinic…