North America is not catching up: I think they are getting ahead in terms of sense about screening. PSA screening in the UK is available, and meant to be about ‘choice’, even then health charities say they “Supports the right of every man over 50 – and younger men at higher risk – to make an […]
Older people and alcohol: Royal College of Psychiatrists gets screening wrong
Much ado about the RCPsych report out today on ‘Our invisible addicts’; supposedly, older people addicted to drugs or alcohol. I don’t think this is a new concern. Part of the ‘problem’ is that the care of people with addictions has slowly got better and people are living longer. Northern Doctor has written very well […]
Is the US waking up to the harms of screening?
Thanks to Joe Stirt for this. This Washington Post article seems to suggest that there is at least a little bit of light emerging in the debate about breast screening. But they don’t go far enough – breast screening causes harm, tangible, real harm, to women who are diagnosed with tumours that would never have […]
Ovarian cancer screening is ineffective and harmful
Important paper in JAMA: ovarian cancer screening using transvaginal ultrasound and serum Ca-125 testing does not reduce mortality from ovarian cancer. Worse, there “Diagnostic evaluation following a false-positive screening test result was associated with complications”. The harms of this ineffective intervention: “Of 3285 women with false-positive results, 1080 underwent surgery (32.9% for oophorectomy) as part […]
“Setting an example?” – BMA news article on screening misses the point.
I wish I could link to this article, which is published as a feature in BMA News, a supplement that comes with the BMJ. It’s worrying. “Professor (Erica) Frank, research chair in preventative medicine and population health at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, has spent more than 20 years examining the relationship […]
Prostate cancer screening: how will this be reported?
I’d love to do a study of column inches of negative trials versus positive ones. This Swedish study in the BMJ, published on the 31st March, found that over 20 years of screening, in almost 1500 men, there was no change in death rate from prostate cancer whether you had prostate cancer screening or not. As […]
The new NHS breast screening leaflet fails to impress
The best evidence that we have about the effectiveness and harms of breast screening comes from a large review done independent of the breast screening industry – with a patient information booklet available here – which states that It may be reasonable to attend for breast cancer screening with mammography, but it may also be reasonable […]
Is CT screening for lung cancer a good idea?
Lots of media coverage would say that it is: the Independent puts it: “Screening heavy smokers with low-dose computer tomography (CT) instead of X-rays can reduce deaths from lung cancer by 20 percent, a massive US study released Thursday shows. Previous studies have shown that helical CT scanning can identify small tumors in the early stages […]
Prostate cancer screening: what do the papers actually say?
Lots of press attention has gathered around the latest research on prostate cancer screening. To be clear: there is no NHS screening programme for prostate cancer screening. Instead, if men want a screening PSA test they can ask for it from their GP. The DoH’s press release in response to the latest research looks like this: […]
Sense on genetic screening from the USA
Great to see some straight talking common sense from the US. Just because you can have your genome dissected, doesn’t mean you should pay a few hundred pounds for your ‘genetic risk assessment’ as several UK and US websites currently offer. These tests may need FDA approval, says this piece from the New England Journal of […]