Study: Women Who Get False Alarm Still Return for Future Screenings

Women who get a false alarm from a breast cancer screening appear to return for subsequent screenings at about the same rate as women who are told their screening results are normal,according to a report published in the Journal of Medical Screening.

Researchers looked at the breast cancer screening records for more than 5,600 women analyzed by the Central and East London Breast Screening Service for 1997. All the women had been routinely screened at least once, and the study focused on their participation rate in subsequent screenings.

Some 367 of the women were erroneously advised of abnormal results that turned out to be normal after further examination. The remaining women were placed on normal routine recall.

Women who initially received a false alarm, whose results turned out to be normal after further examination, were found to be just as likely to return for future screenings, according to the investigators.

Other Sources: Journal of Medical Screening.