For all the benefits cancer screening provides, it also presents the risk of overdiagnosing and detecting pseudodiseases, detected abnormalities that will never form into cancer. Overdiagnosing leads to overtreatment, such as chemotherapy and radiation, that is unnecessary and may harm the patient.
Researchers administered a survey to U.S. men and women between the ages of 50 and 69 years asking participants about their cancer screening experiences.
According to the study, 80 percent of participants said they would like to be told about screening harms before screening. Additionally, 69 percent said they would not undergo screening if overdiagnosing rates were high.
The study notes a separate study that looked at physicians’ understanding of cancer screening statistics. Only 33.9 percent of the sample of primary care physicians could provide an accurate estimate on the extent of overdiagnosing for mammography screening.
The authors suggest medical educators and journal editors should improve the quality of teaching of screening and ensure overtreatment is included in the analysis of the effectiveness of cancer screenings.
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