Women who received a false positive after a mammogram screening are more likely to either delay or skip subsequent mammograms, according to a new study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
For the study, researchers examined data on 741,150 mammogram screenings from 261,767 women experiencing false positive and true negative results. Among the screenings, 90,918 yielded false positive results. Analysis revealed women who received true negative results were 36 percent more likely to return for a subsequent screening in the next 36 months compared to women who received false positives.
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"We believe that the delay in subsequent screening for women who have an initial false positive result increases the probability that they will subsequently receive a later-stage breast cancer diagnosis compared with women who first have a true negative result from a screening mammogram," said study author Firas Dabbous, PhD, manager of patient centered outcomes research at the Russell Institute for Research & Innovation at the Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Ill.
"This suggests that we need to more actively encourage women who have a false positive result from a screening mammogram to adhere to routine screening mammography recommendations because it has been shown to reduce breast cancer mortality," added Dr. Dabbous.
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