A British study stated that getting regular mammograms has little to no effect on the breast cancer mortality rate, The Guardian reported.
Mortality rates from breast cancer have drastically declined since the 1980s, but there is an ongoing debate over the effectiveness of mammograms. Some researchers believe the screening process causes women to be operated on unsuccessfully.
A study from the Department of Health released a review in 2011 that claimed mammograms reduced the breast cancer mortality rate by about 20 percent.
The newest study, released in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine disagreed.
"We permuted the data in a number of different ways, over an observation period of 39 years, but the data show that, at least as yet, there is no evidence of an effect of mammographic screening on population-level breast cancer mortality," wrote the authors of the study.
The study began in 1988 and specifically looked at women living in the Oxford region, this is because in that area the cause of death is always listed on the death certificate. The researchers were not able to find a change in the mortality rate that was correlated with regular screenings.
The lead researcher of the study Toqir Mukhtar said the results were population-based, this means there could be a benefit to mammograms but the statistic is too small to detect within the larger society.
"Clinical trials have indicated that several years have to elapse between the start of screening and the emergence of a reduction in mortality. Yet our data shows that there is no evidence of an effect of mammographic screening on breast cancer mortality at the population level over an observation period of almost 40 years." Lady Delyth Morgan, chief executive of the charity Breast Cancer Campaign siad in a statement. "While research into breast screening is welcomed, conflicting findings from different studies can be confusing for women."
Morgan also said the quicker a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer the more likely she is to overcome the disease. She encourages women to continue getting mammograms whenever their doctor suggests it.
