Why cancer screening has never been shown to “save lives”—and what we can do about it

2016/01/06 by Vinay Prasad, Jeanne Lenzer, David H. Newman · 1 citation
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Medicine · #Benchmark (surveying) #Cancer #Cancer screening #Colorectal Cancer Screening and Detection #Economic and Financial Impacts of Cancer #Geography #Gerontology #Global Cancer Incidence and Screening #Internal medicine #Medicine

paper · doi:10.1136/bmj.h6080

openalex publication_date 2016/01/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31

Abstract

The claim that cancer screening saves lives is based on fewer deaths due to the target cancer. <b>Vinay Prasad and colleagues</b> argue that reductions in overall mortality should be the benchmark and call for higher standards of evidence for cancer screening

Citations

• Restoring invisible and abandoned trials: a call for people to publish the findings
• Women’s perception of the benefits of mammography screening: population-based survey in four countries
• Screening for breast cancer with mammography
• A Systematic Assessment of Benefits and Risks to Guide Breast Cancer Screening Decisions
• Abolishing Mammography Screening Programs? A View from the Swiss Medical Board
• Overdiagnosis in publicly organised mammography screening programmes: systematic review of incidence trends

Cited by

• Screening (medicine) [wikipedia]

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