Is it worth screening women over 70 for breast cancer — or indeed any women?

Screening by high-quality programs successfully detects cancers at an earlier stage

In 2002, the 10th anniversary of Australia's national program of mammographic screening for breast cancer, it is perhaps timely to reflect and review. The need for reassessment is highlighted by the recent furore in the breast-screening world1-4 precipitated by a Cochrane review by Olsen and Gøtzsche.1 In this issue of the Journal, the article by Barratt et al5 (page 266) also encourages us to review breast-screening policies — in this case for women 70 years and over who are no longer in the target group for free mammographic screening (50–69 years).