ArticleAnnals of family medicine
Long-term psychosocial consequences of false-positive screening mammography.
Article in Annals of family medicine. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 155 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
155 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Screening for reducing morbidity and mortality in malignant melanoma.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Systematic review on women's values and preferences concerning breast cancer screening and diagnostic services.Psycho-oncology · 2019Pooled it
- Psychological Burden Associated With Lung Cancer Screening: A Systematic Review.Clinical lung cancer · 2016Pooled it
- Screening for breast cancer with mammography.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013Pooled it
- Validation of the psychosocial consequences of screening in lung cancer questionnaire in the international lung screen trial Australian cohort.Health and quality of life outcomes · 2024Trial
- Hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance may be associated with potential psychological harms in patients with cirrhosis.Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.) · 2024Trial
- Online support: Impact on anxiety in women who experience an abnormal screening mammogram.Breast (Edinburgh, Scotland) · 2014Trial
- Trial
- AI for screening in healthcare: promise and challenges.Abdominal radiology (New York) · 2026Review
- Sequential Screening as Diagnostic Filtering or Substitution: A Bayesian Cost Model of Screening as a Function of Prevalence.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2026Article
- Psychological consequences of mammography screening recommendations: a prospective cohort study in Iran.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Quality-adjusted life years in the presence and absence of organized mammographic screening using data from BreastScreen Norway.International journal of cancer · 2026Article
- Likelihood of breast cancer among women presenting with breast-related symptoms in primary care, with a focus on isolated mastalgia: a retrospective cohort study.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Acceptable accuracy for medical AI: a survey of physicians and the general population in Sweden.BMJ health & care informatics · 2026Article
- What Information on Mammographic Screening is Available to Women in Quebec, Ontario and Canada: Results from a Document Analysis.Public health ethics · 2026Article
- Psychosocial impact of false-positive surveillance for hepatocellular carcinoma: a qualitative study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Multicancer Detection Assays: Promise and Potential Harms of a Novel Cancer Screening Tool.The Permanente journal · 2026Article
- Breathprints for Breast Cancer: Evaluating a Non-Invasive Approach to BI-RADS 4 Risk Stratification in a Preliminary Study.Cancers · 2026Article
- Specificity of Celbrea, a novel noninvasive thermal screening device, in women with recent negative screening mammograms.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- Characterization of Breast Microcalcifications Using Dual-Energy CBCT: Impact of Detector Configuration on Imaging Performance-A Simulation Study.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
95 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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2 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeCancer screening programs have the potential of intended beneficial effects, but they also inevitably have unintended harmful effects. In the case of screening mammography, the most frequent harm is a false-positive result. Prior efforts to measure their psychosocial consequences have been limited by short-term follow-up, the use of generic survey instruments, and the lack of a relevant benchmark-women with breast cancer.
methodsIn this cohort study with a 3-year follow-up, we recruited 454 women with abnormal findings in screening mammography over a 1-year period. For each woman with an abnormal finding on a screening mammogram (false and true positives), we recruited another 2 women with normal screening results who were screened the same day at the same clinic. These participants were asked to complete the Consequences of Screening in Breast Cancer-a validated questionnaire encompassing 12 psychosocial outcomes-at baseline, 1, 6, 18, and 36 months.
resultsSix months after final diagnosis, women with false-positive findings reported changes in existential values and inner calmness as great as those reported by women with a diagnosis of breast cancer (Δ = 1.15; P = .015; and Δ = 0.13; P = .423, respectively). Three years after being declared free of cancer, women with false-positive results consistently reported greater negative psychosocial consequences compared with women who had normal findings in all 12 psychosocial outcomes (Δ >0 for 12 of 12 outcomes; P <.01 for 4 of 12 outcomes).
conclusionFalse-positive findings on screening mammography causes long-term psychosocial harm: 3 years after a false-positive finding, women experience psychosocial consequences that range between those experienced by women with a normal mammogram and those with a diagnosis of breast cancer.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.