BACKGROUND Overdiagnosis by mammographic screening is defined as the excess in breast cancer incidence in the presence of screening compared to the incidence in the absence of screening. The latter is often estimated by extrapolating the pre-screening incidence trend. The aim of this theoretical study is to investigate the impact of assumptions in extrapolating the pre-screening incidence trend...

In an interesting article Wieteke van Dijk and colleagues argue that societal developments and values influence the practice of medicine, and thus can result in both medicalisation and overdiagnosis. They provide a convincing argument that overdiagnosis emerges in a social context and that it has socially constructed implications. However, they fail to show that overdiagnosis per se is socially...

Overdiagnosis in breast cancer has been a focus of increasing concern with wide ranges of calculations made indirectly through the study of prospective randomized trials and analyses of large registries. While most admit that some degree of overdiagnosis is inherent with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), the rate of overdiagnosis with invasive disease is highly controversial. Although it is gene...

Gastric cancer screening using endoscopy has recently spread in Eastern Asian countries showing increasing evidence of its effectiveness. However, despite the benefits of endoscopic screening for gastric cancer, its major harms include infection, complications, false-negative results, false-positive results, and overdiagnosis. The most serious harm of endoscopic screening is overdiagnosis and t...

OBJECTIVES To explore the influence of overdiagnosis information on women's decisions about mammography. DESIGN A qualitative focus group study with purposive sampling and thematic analysis, in which overdiagnosis information was presented. SETTING Community and university settings in London. PARTICIPANTS 40 women within the breast screening age range (50-71 years) including attenders and...

The frequency of overdiagnosis associated with breast cancer screening is a topic of controversy. Published estimates vary widely, but identifying which estimates are reliable is challenging. In this article we present an approach that provides a check on these estimates. Our approach leverages the close link between overdiagnosis and lead time by identifying the average lead time most consiste...

BACKGROUND Despite evidence about the "modern epidemic" of overdiagnosis, and expanding disease definitions that medicalize more people, data are lacking on public views about these issues. Our objective was to measure public perceptions about overdiagnosis and views about financial ties of panels setting disease definitions. METHODS We conducted a 15 minute Computer Assisted Telephone Interv...

OBJECTIVE To elicit women's responses to information about the nature and extent of overdiagnosis in mammography screening (detecting disease that would not present clinically during the woman's lifetime) and explore how awareness of overdiagnosis might influence attitudes and intentions about screening. DESIGN Qualitative study using focus groups that included a presentation explaining overd...