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The breast screening programme and misinforming the public

Peter C Gøtzsche1, Karsten Juhl Jørgensen

  • 1The Nordic Cochrane Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark. pcg@cochrane.dk

Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
|September 2, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Information on breast cancer screening benefits and harms remains unbalanced. Official NHS Breast Screening Programme documents from 2010 still downplay over-diagnosis, a significant harm, despite new data and ongoing debate.

Area of Science:

  • Public Health
  • Medical Screening
  • Health Communication

Background:

  • The NHS Breast Screening Programme has faced criticism regarding the balance of information on benefits and harms.
  • Recent data and debate have questioned the established benefits and highlighted significant harms of breast cancer screening.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze the impact of recent data and debate on the 2010 NHS Breast Screening Programme leaflet and Annual Review.
  • To assess if concerns about over-diagnosis and other harms have been addressed in official communications.

Main Methods:

  • Content analysis of the 2010 NHS Breast Screening Programme leaflet.
  • Content analysis of the 2010 NHS Breast Screening Programme Annual Review.
  • Comparison with previous Programme communications and recent scientific data.

Main Results:

  • Official documents and communications from the Programme have not significantly changed.
  • Established beliefs regarding screening benefits persist, unchanged for over 25 years.
  • Concerns about over-diagnosis, a major harm, remain unaddressed and downplayed.

Conclusions:

  • The NHS Breast Screening Programme's communication strategy has not evolved to reflect current evidence on harms and benefits.
  • Official documents continue to present an unbalanced view, overestimating benefits and underestimating harms like over-diagnosis.

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