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Randomized trials conducted from the 1960s to the 1980s indicated that screening mammography reduced breast cancer mortality (Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2013; 6:CD001877), but these studies were conducted in an era when breast cancer treatments were less effective and women's awareness of breast cancer less keen.
Now, Canadian investigators report findings from 25 years of follow-up in a screening mammography trial that was initiated in 1980 and involved some 90,000 women aged 40 to 59. All participants underwent baseline clinical breast examinations by trained clinicians. Women aged 40 to 49 were randomized to 5 annual mammograms (plus annual breast examinations) or to usual care. Women aged 50 to 59 were randomized to 5 annual mammograms (…