Long-Term Psychosocial Consequences of False-Positive Screening Mammography

The Article in Brief

Long-Term Psychosocial Consequences of False-Positive Screening Mammography

John Brodersen , and colleagues

Background False-positive results are a common, unintended, harmful effect of breast cancer screening mammography. The aim of this study is to measure the long-term psychosocial consequences of false-positive screening mammography.

What This Study Found Among 1,310 women, 454 of whom had abnormal findings on screening mammography, those who had a false-positive result reported greater negative psychosocial consequences compared with women with normal test findings, even 3 years after being declared free of suspected cancer. Specifically, 6 months after the final diagnosis, women with false-positive findings reported changes in existential values and inner calmness as great as those reported by women with a true diagnosis of breast cancer. Three years after being declared free of cancer, women with false-positive results reported greater negative psychosocial consequences compared with women who had normal findings in all 12 psychosocial outcomes. The pattern of the 12 psychosocial outcomes was consistent at the time of screening and at 1, 6, and 18 months after screening and final diagnosis: women with breast cancer experienced greater negative psychosocial consequences than women with false-positive findings, and these women experienced greater negative psychosocial consequences than women with normal findings.

Implications

• That women with false-positives reported changes just as great in existential values and inner calmness as women with breast cancer in the first half-year after final diagnosis indicates the significant psychological harm caused by false-positive diagnoses.