The risk of breast cancer overdiagnosis is high for older women
Question
What is the likelihood of the overdiagnosis of breast cancer in women older than 70 years after screening?
Conclusion
Overdiagnosis — the identification of, in this case, breast cancer, that would not have caused symptoms in a person’s lifetime — seems to increase with age. In this study, the overdiagnosis rate was 31% for women ages 70 to 74 years. The rate of overdiagnosis increased with age: 47% for women 75 to 84 years and 51% for women who were screened and found to be positive over age 85.