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I have a couple of questions about screening:

Does breast cancer screening change the incidence of breast cancer?

I think that it does not since screening is not a diagnostic tool. Also it is secondary prevention. It just assesses the likelihood of a woman having breast cancer.

What is the main difference between women around 45 and women above 65 in terms of breast cancer screening?

I think that screening would be more beneficial for women around 45 because there is a higher chance of them being in an asymptomatic stage (so that treatment would be more beneficial). Would this be correct?

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You may like this TED talk ted.com/talks/lang/en/deborah_rhodes.html – JonnyBoats Mar 17 '12 at 4:39
If screening involves x-rays then it probably impacts the incidence of breast cancer if only marginally. – JonnyBoats Mar 17 '12 at 4:40
The screening could have an effect in the long term. This paper argues that the screening is useless but it is far to be convincing nelm.nhs.uk/en/NeLM-Area/News/2011---July/29/… – Stéphane Laurent Mar 17 '12 at 8:36
This is not really a stats question, thus close. You may be also interested in this Skeptics.SE thread. – mbq♦ Mar 17 '12 at 16:55
It increases apparent incidence by catching cancers that wouldn't otherwise be caught, and it shifts the incidence towards the lower stages by catching them earlier. – Kevin Mar 17 '12 at 16:56
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closed as off topic by onestop, mpiktas, mbq♦ Mar 17 '12 at 16:52

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