Test sensitivity of mammography and mean sojourn time over 40 years of breast cancer screening in Nijmegen (The Netherlands).

Autor: Aarts, AMWM, Duffy, SW, Geurts, SME, Vulkan, DP, Otten, JDM, Hsu, C-Y, Chen, THH, Verbeek, ALM, Broeders, MJM
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Medical Screening; Sep2019, Vol. 26 Issue 3, p147-153, 7p, 2 Charts
Abstrakt: Objectives: We investigated whether changes in mammographic technique and screening policy have improved mammographic sensitivity, and elongated the mean sojourn time, since the introduction of biennial breast cancer screening in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, in 1975. Methods: Maximum likelihood estimation, non-linear regression, and Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation were used to estimate test sensitivity, mean sojourn time, and underlying breast cancer incidence in four time periods, covering 40 years of breast cancer screening in Nijmegen (1975–2012). Results: Maximum likelihood estimation generated an estimated test sensitivity of approximately 90% and a mean sojourn time around three years, while the estimates based on non-linear regression and Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation were 80% and four years, respectively. All three methods estimated a rise in the underlying breast cancer incidence over time, with approximately one case more per 1000 women per year in the final period compared with the first period. Conclusions: The three methods showed a slightly higher mammographic sensitivity and a longer mean sojourn time in the last period, after the introduction of digital mammography. Estimates were more realistic for the more sophisticated methods, non-linear regression and Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation, while the simple closed form approximation of maximum likelihood estimation led to rather high estimates for sensitivity in the early periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Databáze: Complementary Index