| "The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends screening mammography, with or without clinical breast examination (CBE), every 1-2 years for women aged 40 and older."
"The absolute benefit is smaller because the incidence of breast cancer is lower among women in their 40s than it is among older women....Evidence is strongest for women aged 50-69, the age group generally included in screening trials. For women aged 40-49, the evidence that screening mammography reduces mortality from breast cancer is weaker, and the absolute benefit of mammography is smaller, than it is for older women."
Note well that the task force is not recommending no mammograms for women 40-50. It's not saying they should only have mammograms every other year, either. Nor is it saying they don't benefit from the tests.
Regarding clinical examination of breasts by doctors, the recommendation was:
"The USPSTF concludes that the evidence is insufficient to recommend for or against routine CBE alone to screen for breast cancer." Again, there is no recommendation for doctors to stop clinical exams.
Regarding self-exams of breasts, the recommendation was:
"The USPSTF concludes that the evidence is insufficient to recommend for or against teaching or performing routine breast self-examination (BSE)...The USPSTF found fair evidence that BSE is associated with an increased risk for false-positive results and biopsies."
So, what was all the bruhaha about? Beats me...except that it stirred up controversy in the midst of the debate on health care reform on Capitol Hill. It unnecessarily upset some women, the group most likely to support changing our current health insurance mess.
Hmmm....There just might be a connection there, huh? Corporate media, careful not to jeopardize the potential advertising revenue it gets from for-profit health insurance companies, runs a deliberately misleading story almost guaranteed to cause controversy while health reform debate rages in Washington.
Oh, perhaps I am just too quick to find collusion, but I don't think so... |
