Evidence map›Paper›PMID 8080744›Full record

Trial reportBritish journal of cancer1994

The Edinburgh randomised trial of breast cancer screening: results after 10 years of follow-up.

F E Alexander, T J Anderson, H K Brown, A P Forrest, W Hepburn, A E Kirkpatrick, C McDonald, B B Muir, R J Prescott, S M Shepherd

Open access · bronzeAbstract readClinical TrialMulticenter StudyRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in British journal of cancer, 1994. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
19citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
3.4field-weighted citation impact, top 6% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

19 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 130 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Extending the Age Range in Mammography Screening: A Benefit-Risk Assessment from a Radiation Protection Perspective.RoFo : Fortschritte auf dem Gebiete der Rontgenstrahlen und der Nuklearmedizin · 2026
    Pooled it
  2. Screening for breast cancer with mammography.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013
    Pooled it
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  15. Preventive health care, 2001 update: screening mammography among women aged 40-49 years at average risk of breast cancer.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2001
    Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

F E AlexanderDepartment of Public Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Medical School, UK.
T J Anderson
H K Brown
A P Forrest
W Hepburn
A E Kirkpatrick
C McDonald
B B Muir
R J Prescott
S M Shepherd
University of Edinburgh · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The Edinburgh Randomised Trial of Breast Cancer Screening recruited 44,288 women aged 45-64 years into the initial cohort of the trial during 1978-81, and 10 years of follow-up is now complete. A total of 22,944 women were randomised into the study group and were offered screening for 7 years; the remaining women formed the control group. After 10 years, breast cancer mortality is 14-21% lower in the study group than in the controls depending on the precise definition of the end point. These differences are not statistically significant; for breast cancer as the underlying cause of death the relative risk is 0.82 (95% confidence interval 0.61-1.11). Rates of locally advanced and metastatic cancer were substantially lower in the study group, but screening has failed to achieve marked reductions in rates of small node-positive cancers. Those women who accepted the final invitation to screening have been monitored over the 3 year period prior to their first screen under the UK service screening programme. Interval cases, expressed as a proportion of the control incidence, increased from 12% in the first year to 67% in the third year. The reduction in breast cancer mortality for older women (aged at least 50 years) is the same as that for the total study group for this duration of follow-up. For analyses of breast cancer mortality in younger women updates recruited to the trial from 1982 to 1985 (10,383 women with 6-8 years' follow-up) have been included. The reduction in breast cancer mortality for women aged 45-49 years at entry was 22% (relative risk = 0.78, 95% confidence interval = 0.46-1.31).

Indexed as

Mass ScreeningBreast NeoplasmsChemotherapy, AdjuvantCluster AnalysisFemaleFollow-Up StudiesHumansIncidenceMiddle AgedScotlandSocioeconomic Factors

Identifiers

PMID8080744
PMCPMC2033341
OpenAlexW2128539466

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.