A recent study has found that women with stage IV breast cancer detected through screening have a 60% chance of surviving ten years after diagnosis, compared to less than 20% for those whose cancer was not found through screening. The research was conducted by King's College London, Queen Mary University London, and the University of Southern Denmark.
The study aimed to determine whether the way breast cancer is detected affects survival rates at different stages of the disease. The findings were published in JNCI.
Researchers discovered that even when breast cancer had reached stage IV—meaning it had spread to distant organs or tissues—screening could still improve outcomes. Cancers found during screening at this advanced stage were more likely to be treated surgically, indicating that these cancers might have limited spread and could potentially be removed completely.
Dr Amy Tickle, lead author and researcher at King's College London during her PhD, said: "Our results show that how breast cancer is detected could impact the patient's survival chances. There is understandably a lot of fear around cancer being found late, but our findings provide reassurance that long-term survival is still possible when it is found during screening. Our research highlights the importance of screening programmes and we hope this encourages everyone who is invited to attend their appointment. Further research is now needed to better understand the reasons behind this improved survival."
To reach these conclusions, the team linked Danish breast screening records from 2010 to 2019 with national death records up until 2022. They compared mortality rates among women with breast cancer to those without it and considered prior screening history to avoid bias.
Professor Peter Sasieni, Dr Tickle's PhD supervisor at King's College London and now based at Queen Mary University of London, explained: "We looked at survival in women with screened detected breast cancer, in women who had never been screening and in women who had been screened previously but whose cancer was not detected through screening.
For women with Stages I, II and III breast cancer, survival did not vary by screening history. But for stage IV breast cancer, we were surprised to see that prognosis for those whose cancer was screened detected resembled that of women with stage III breast cancer – they were three times more likely to live for another 10 years than other women with stage IV breast cancer."
In the United Kingdom, national guidelines recommend regular mammograms every three years for women aged 50 to 70 as part of NHS breast cancer screening. These screenings are designed to find cancers before symptoms appear.
The authors note that their findings underscore the value of promoting participation in routine screenings. They also suggest using data on diagnosis stages as an early indicator of how changes in screening programs affect overall mortality rates from breast cancer—allowing health services to evaluate effectiveness sooner rather than waiting a decade or more for longer-term results.
