Consequences of false-positive screening mammograms.

Area of Science:

• Medical screening
• Public health
• Quality of life research

Background:

• False-positive mammograms are a common harm in breast cancer screening.
• The US Preventive Services Task Force is evaluating screening harms.

Purpose of the Study:

• To measure the impact of false-positive mammograms on quality of life.
• Assessed personal anxiety, health utility, and future screening attitudes.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Digital Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial (DMIST) quality-of-life substudy.
• Telephone surveys were conducted shortly after screening and one year later.
• Included randomly selected participants with positive and negative mammograms.

Main Results:

• False-positive mammograms led to significantly higher short-term anxiety (STAI-6, 35.2 vs 32.7).
• No significant differences in health utility or anxiety were observed at one year.
• Women with false-positive results were more likely to intend future screening (OR, 2.12).

Conclusions:

• False-positive mammograms cause temporary anxiety but no long-term health utility decrement.
• Increased intention for future screening was observed post-false positive.
• Findings are relevant for patient counseling and screening guideline development.