Double reading in breast-cancer screening: what women know about it

• Published in: La Presse médicale (1983) 2008-09, Vol.37 (9), p.1205-1211
• Main Authors: Desjeux, Guillaume, Aspar, Anne-Marie, d'Istria, Emilie Colonna, Raude, Danielle, Audet-Lapointe, Michel, Balaire, Corinne, Codaccioni, Alain
• Format: Article
• Language: fre
• Subjects: Aged; Breast Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Female; Humans; Mammography - methods; Mammography - statistics & numerical data; Mass Screening - methods; Middle Aged; Patient Compliance; Surveys and Questionnaires
• ISSN: 2213-0276
• DOI: 10.1016/j.lpm.2007.12.010

An officially-sponsored and free breast cancer screening in France was extended to all regions in 2004. These mammography procedures include double reading, which reduces the number of false negatives. Together with this official program, administered by associations in each district, voluntary individual screening is still available. The aim of this study is to ascertain what women think about breast cancer screening, why they choose one method of screening or the other, and what they know about "double reading". A postal survey inquiring about the kind of screening chosen and the reasons for this choice was sent to women aged 50 to 74 years covered by the national military health insurance fund. After descriptive analysis of the results, we compared the respondents' knowledge of double reading according to residence (two departments, one rural one and one urban), age, and educational level. 541 of the 994 eligible women responded (54%). More than 94% of them had had a mammography within the past two years, 62.1% through the official program. Women who had participated in the official screening knew more about "double reading" than the others (71.6% versus 50%, p