I know it is a leap but this confusing information has overwhelmed my tiny chemo brain. One article says yes and one article says no. This article about a Dutch study says that breast cancer screenings save lives. This article about a Norwegian study talks about how screenings in your 40s can lead to over diagnosis and over treatment of breast cancer.
So what to do? This really becomes a matter of personal choice (unless the evil health insurance companies make the decision for you) of when to start screenings of any kind. But once you start you need to realize that you do run the risk of being over diagnosed and over treated. Some cancers will never cause a problem for the patient later in life. But do they really know how to tell which one is not going to be a problem? I'm not sure.
This is a problem we have with medical studies in general. There will be one which says one thing and another that says the exact opposite. And both require more studies to prove right or wrong. How helpful. How confusing.
1 comment:
hello,
i am a dutch woman of 50 years old. We get free screening of the age of 50. Then you get a letter and you can go to a bus in your neighbourood where the screening takes place. Before 50 you only get a screening when you or a dr things there is something wrong
carla
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