The effect of population‐based mammography screening in Dutch municipalities on breast cancer mortality: 20 years of follow‐up

Long‐term follow‐up data on the effects of screening are scarce, and debate exists on the relative contribution of screening versus treatment to breast cancer mortality reduction. Our aim was therefore to assess the long‐term effect of screening by age and time of implementation. We obtained data on 69,630 breast cancer deaths between 1980 and 2010 by municipality ( N = 431) and age of death (40–79) in the Netherlands. Breast cancer mortality trends were analyzed by defining the municipality‐specific calendar year of introduction of screening as Year 0. Additionally, log‐linear Poisson regress... Mehr ...