Cancer screening test: are they effective??
A recent article assessed the actual years of lifetime gained from an array of approved cancer screening tests, finding minimal effect (see cancer screening not help much JAMAintmed2023 in dropbox, or https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2808648 ). Details : -- Assessment of mammography for breast cancer screening; colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, and fecal occult blood testing (FOBT, or guaiacs) for colorectal cancer; low-dose CT (LDCT) for lung cancer in smokers; and PSA testing for prostate cancer -- systematic review/meta-analysis of RCTs with more than 9 years of followup that reported all-cause mortality and estimated lifetime gained for these screening tests -- 2,111,958 individuals involved -- median followup: -- LDCT (3 studies), PSA (4 studies), colonoscopy (1 study): 10 years -- mammography (2 studies): 13 years -- sigmoidoscopy (4 studies) an...