Mammography screening: Weighing the pros and cons for women’s health

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Still, breast cancer screening programs are well entrenched—in 2008, 72 per cent of women 50 to 69 in Canada reported that they had had a mammogram in the previous two years, according to Statistics Canada.

"I think the public need to recognize that for noble and not-so-noble reasons, the health-care industry is always going to promote more, and the well-meaning will provide more since they are more afraid of missing a case than over finding too many cases,” says Steven Lewis, a health policy consultant and adjunct professor of health policy at Simon Fraser University.

Ann Silversides is an independent journalist and author who specializes in health policy.

Resources
Public discussion-debate “Is too much cancer screening hazardous to your health? The example of breast cancer”. A speech by Peter Gøtzsche, researcher and director of the Nordic Cochrane Centre. Published by Prescrire.

Book review of Mammography Screening: Truth, Lies and Controversy (Radcliffe Publishing, London/New York: 2012) by physician and researcher, Peter C. Gøtzsche. Available from the Centers for Medical Consumers website.

The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care intends to create decision aids to help women decide whether or not to have a screening mammogram. In the meantime, two pamphlets to help with this decision making are available: the Public Health Agency of Canada pamphlet and the Cochrane Collaboration pamphlet.

Dr. Susan Love’s Breast Book (2010 edition) has an entire chapter outlining issues concerning breast cancer screening.