False positive mammograms may deter more screening
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Getting a false positive on a mammogram — especially if it's accompanied by a recommendation for follow-up visits or a biopsy — could keep patients from seeking future screening, according to a new study.
Why it matters: Previous studies have found roughly half of all women receive a false positive mammogram over a decade of annual screening.
- They are also more common in younger women with denser breast tissue, meaning a false positive could have a long-term impact on a woman's lifetime of screening.
What they found: Researchers from the University of California, Davis studied more than 3.5 million screening mammograms performed at 177 breast imaging facilities in the U.S. between 2005 to 2017. Women included in the study were between 40 and 73 years old without a breast cancer diagnosis.
- The researchers compared patients who had true negative results with those who had false positives and were recommended for immediate additional imaging only, short-interval follow-up, or biopsy — and their probability of returning for another mammogram within 30 months.
- Overall, 10% of screening mammograms had a false-positive result, they report in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
- 77% of women with a true negative result returned for subsequent recommended screening but that figure dropped to 72% among those with a false positive who received only immediate additional imaging.
- There was a significant dip in other groups: 55% returned for subsequent screening after a false positive and a recommendation for short-interval follow-up, and 61% of those with a false positive who were told to get a biopsy went on for future breast cancer screening.
Between the lines: Asian and Hispanic women were least likely to return for future screening mammograms after a false positive result.
What they're saying: The study raises serious questions about the implications of when to start screening for breast cancer, authors of an accompanying editorial wrote.
- The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a recommendation that women begin getting mammograms at age 40, but only every two years.
- Better communication about false positive results before screening may also help address screening drops, they write.
