Table 2:

Estimated proportion of breast cancers overdiagnosed from screening*15

Age of women at initial screen, yrYears after screeningBreast cancers estimated as overdiagnosed, %
Invasive and in situ cancers, %Invasive cancers, %
40 to 4954132
205548
50 to 5952516
20165
  • * Overdiagnosis by age was estimated using this calculation: The numerator is the difference in numbers of cancers in the mammography arm less those in the control arm; and the denominator is the number of screen-detected cancers in the mammography arm.39 Only the findings from the estimate on overdiagnosis from a Canadian randomized controlled trial39 are included because it provided an estimate by age and was appraised as being at moderate risk of bias.15