Participation behaviour following a false positive test in the Copenhagen mammography screening programme

TY - JOUR

T1 - Participation behaviour following a false positive test in the Copenhagen mammography screening programme

AU - Andersen, Sune Bangsbøll

AU - Vejborg, Ilse

AU - von Euler-Chelpin, My

PY - 2008

Y1 - 2008

N2 - INTRODUCTION: There is an ongoing debate concerning possible disadvantages of mammography screening, one being the consequence of receiving a false positive test-result. It is argued that receiving a false positive answer may have short- and/or long-term adverse psychological effects on women, but results from different studies are conflicting. We tested if there was a difference in continued participation behaviour between the group of women who have been subject to a false positive result and those who have not. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study used the registers from the first six invitation rounds of the mammography screening programme in Copenhagen (1991-2003). We estimated the relative risk of not participating in the subsequent screening round for women with a false positive test using women with a negative test as baseline. As outcome measure odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in participation in the subsequent round between women with a false positive test and women with a negative test. The proportion of screens resulting in false positive answers, both after assessment and after surgery, decreased from 5.54% in Round 1 to 1.79% in Round 5. Participation in the subsequent screening round was well above 80% in all five screening rounds. DISCUSSION: Our results showed that women experiencing a false positive test at mammography screening participated in the subsequent screening round to the same extent as did women experiencing a negative screening test, regardless of whether the false positive statement was given following assessment or following surgery. The benign to malignant biopsy ratio, comparing the type B false positives to the true positives, was by the fifth round well below the desirable level of Udgivelsesdato: 2008

AB - INTRODUCTION: There is an ongoing debate concerning possible disadvantages of mammography screening, one being the consequence of receiving a false positive test-result. It is argued that receiving a false positive answer may have short- and/or long-term adverse psychological effects on women, but results from different studies are conflicting. We tested if there was a difference in continued participation behaviour between the group of women who have been subject to a false positive result and those who have not. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study used the registers from the first six invitation rounds of the mammography screening programme in Copenhagen (1991-2003). We estimated the relative risk of not participating in the subsequent screening round for women with a false positive test using women with a negative test as baseline. As outcome measure odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in participation in the subsequent round between women with a false positive test and women with a negative test. The proportion of screens resulting in false positive answers, both after assessment and after surgery, decreased from 5.54% in Round 1 to 1.79% in Round 5. Participation in the subsequent screening round was well above 80% in all five screening rounds. DISCUSSION: Our results showed that women experiencing a false positive test at mammography screening participated in the subsequent screening round to the same extent as did women experiencing a negative screening test, regardless of whether the false positive statement was given following assessment or following surgery. The benign to malignant biopsy ratio, comparing the type B false positives to the true positives, was by the fifth round well below the desirable level of Udgivelsesdato: 2008

KW - Aged

KW - Biopsy, Fine-Needle

KW - Breast Neoplasms

KW - Denmark

KW - False Positive Reactions

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Mammography

KW - Mass Screening

KW - Middle Aged

KW - Patient Acceptance of Health Care

U2 - 10.1080/02841860801935483

DO - 10.1080/02841860801935483

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 18465321

SN - 0284-186X

VL - 47

SP - 550

EP - 555

JO - Acta Oncologica

JF - Acta Oncologica

IS - 4

ER -