Do the benefits of screening mammography outweigh the harms of overdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment?--no.

No. Breast cancer researchers Robin Bell and Robert Burton believe that screening can result in overdiagnosis.

Adjuvant therapy, not mammographic screening, accounts for most of the observed breast cancer specific mortality reductions in Australian women since the national screening program began in 1991.

There has been a 28% reduction in age-standardised breast cancer mortality in Australia since 1991 when the free national mammographic program (BreastScreen) began. Therefore, a comparative study between BreastScreen participation and breast cancer age specific mortality trends in Australia was undertaken for two time periods between 1991 and 2007, where women aged 50-59 and 60-69 years, who were invited to screen, were compared to women aged 40-49 and 70-79 years who were not invited, but who did have access to the program. There were mortality reductions in all four age groups between 1991-1992 and 2007, resulting in 5,849 (95% CI 4,979 to 6,718) fewer women dying of breast cancer than would have otherwise been the case.

The spatial distribution of esophageal and gastric cancer in Caspian region of Iran: an ecological analysis of diet and socio-economic influences.

Recent studies have suggested a systematic geographic pattern of esophageal cancer (EC) and gastric cancer (GC) incidence in the Caspian region of Iran. The aims of this study were to investigate the association between these cancers and the region's dietary and socioeconomic risk factors and to map EC and GC after adjustment for the risk factors and the removal of random and geographic variations from area specific age standardised incidence ratios (SIRs). We obtained cancer data from the Babol cancer registry from 2001 to 2005, socioeconomic indices from the Statistical Centre of Iran, and dietary patterns from the control group in a case control study conducted in the study region.

Non-melanoma skin cancer in Australia: the 2002 national survey and trends since 1985.

Objectives: To measure the incidence of treated non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) in Australia in 2002 and investigate trends since 1985 by histological type, sex, age group, latitude and skin type.

Design: Face-to-face survey between 1 January and 31 December 2002 using stratified sampling of households to identify people treated for skin cancer in the previous 12 months. Self-reported diagnoses were confirmed with treatment providers.

Factors influencing the number needed to excise: excision rates of pigmented lesions by general practitioners.

Objective: To identify doctor and patient characteristics associated with excision of benign versus malignant pigmented skin lesions.

Design, Setting And Participants: Retrospective audit of data on 4741 pigmented skin lesions excised from November 1998 to February 2000 by 468 general practitioners (39% response rate) from 223 practices in Perth, WA. (The data used were from the baseline period of a randomised controlled trial of a diagnostic aid for pigmented skin lesions.

Evaluation of aid to diagnosis of pigmented skin lesions in general practice: controlled trial randomised by practice.

Objectives: To determine whether an aid to the diagnosis of pigmented skin lesions reduces the ratio of benign lesions to melanomas excised in general practice.

Design: Controlled trial randomised by practice.

Setting: General practices in Perth, Western Australia.

Cancer control in Australia: into the 21(st) Century.

Australia ranks highly internationally for cancer control, in part because cancer registries provide comprehensive national incidence and mortality and other cancer data annually. This has facilitated short- and long-term planning over the last quarter of a century. For example, male death rates from lung cancer in Australia peaked around 1985 and are now falling steeply, whereas female rates are still rising.