A new EU approach to cancer screening

September 22, 2022 - Abstract Dr. C.Bour

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/fr/QANDA_22_5584

Within the framework of the European program of the fight against cancer and cancer screening, which will be included in a large European plan, the European Commission proposes an extension and/or a restart of certain screenings and an implementation of new ones.
The objective is that by 2025, 90% of the EU population will be screened for breast, prostate, cervical and colorectal cancer. Lung and stomach cancer screenings are also included, although no conclusive studies exist for the latter.

Regarding funding: “Europe's Beating Cancer Plan is supported using the whole range of Commission funding instruments, with a total of €4 billion being earmarked for actions addressing cancer. This includes around € 38.5 million committed from the EU4Health programme for screening-related projects and € 60 million under the Horizon Europe. The Commission will propose additional funding for cancer screening under the 2023 EU4Health programme.”

A blatant disregard for acquired knowledge and established recommendations

1° breast cancer

The Commission wishes to extend breast cancer screening to younger women, including women starting at 45 years of age.

However, a British trial, the UK Age Trial, delivered its results in 2021. After 23 years, the results of the UK Age Trial no longer showed a significant decrease in the number of deaths from breast cancer in women screened between the ages of 40 and 49. The authors of the trial concluded: "Overall, there was no significant reduction in breast cancer mortality in the intervention group compared with the control group.”
The results also showed no reduction in total mortality (or all-cause mortality).
The justification for this extending screening to a younger age is as brief as it is unscientific:
https://healthcare-quality.jrc.ec.europa.eu/european-breast-cancer-guidelines/screening-ages-and-frequencies/women-45-49#rec-question

“The GDG (development group of these guidelines)  agreed this recommendation by consensus with no need for voting.”
“The decision on this recommendation takes into account the balance between desirable and undesirable effects that probably favours organised mammography screening for women aged 45 to 49 in the context of moderate certainty of the evidence.”

Yet the downloadable 2016 PDF detailed the doubts that exist for this screening: "Mammography, compared with no screening, did not significantly reduce the risk of breast cancer mortality..... in women invited to screening during 16.4 years of follow-up."...
"Mammography, compared with no screening, reduced the risk of stage IIA or higher breast cancer (46 fewer cases of breast cancer per 100,000 women ...but did not reduce the risk of all-cause mortality."
(Recall that overall mortality includes all elements of healthcare, so also the effects of treatment, overdiagnosis, and overtreatment. This figure is more meaningful because any cancer detected will be treated; the treatments themselves sometimes cause deaths, which will be included and encompassed in the 'all-cause mortality,' thus better reflecting the reality of screening).

"Adverse events:
Women aged 40-74 randomized to 'invitation to screening' were more likely to undergo mastectomy....
Overdiagnosis is estimated to be 12.4% (moderate quality evidence) from a population perspective and 22.7% from the perspective of a woman invited to screening (moderate quality evidence).
The number of false positives will depend on age at the first screening. Estimated cumulative risk of false-positive screening: The rate of women aged 50 to 69 years who underwent 10 biennial screenings was 19.7%. However, higher false-positive rates were observed among women younger than 50 years than among women aged 50 to 69 years.
In addition, 2.2% of women had a needle biopsy after the initial screening mammogram.
False-positive mammograms are also associated with greater anxiety and distress about breast cancer as well as negative psychological consequences that can last up to three years (low quality evidence). ..."

2.Prostate cancer

The Commission proposes introducing a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test - similar to a blood test - in men up to age 70, combined with additional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a follow-up test.

Yet, prostate cancer screening has been long debated and is not longer recommended by the HAS since 2013- https://www.has-sante.fr/jcms/c_1623737/fr/detection-precoce-du-cancer-de-la-prostate
"the HAS recalls that the implementation of a screening program for prostate cancer using total serum PSA measurement is not recommended, either in the general population or in men at high risk."

The lack of benefit in mortality reduction and significant overdiagnosis motivated this decision. More explanation here:
https://cancer-rose.fr/en/2021/02/11/parallel-to-breast-screening-prostate-screening-overdiagnosis-as-well/

Conclusion

The extension of screening to the younger age group is a step forward from 2019, when, regarding the 45-49 age group, the GDR (expert panel proposing the recommendations) suggested at that time a triennial or biennial mammographic screening in the context of an organized screening program, mentioning a low level of certainty.

In the meantime, the MyPEBS study has been set up to test the possibility of more targeted screening since it must be admitted that the current screening does not work as expected: "After analysis of all the components, the final objective of Mypebs is to provide the best recommendations for the best breast cancer screening strategy in Europe.
The MyPEBS promoters' argument also states: "A major challenge is to make women more informed and more active in their screening decisions, as clearly recognized by several international studies. Indeed, a major concern of national screening programs in all participating countries is to promote informed choices about decisions to participate in screening and subsequent treatment options. Informed choices require that good quality, relevant information be provided to women so that they can make decisions consistent with their values."

So it appears that the EU sees no contradiction in funding a €12M study to achieve more precise, risk-based screening and, on the other hand, expanding the age ranges for screening without evidence, even before MyPEBS has delivered its results...
Or else there is no contradiction, and the MyPEBS study is meant to achieve this, to finally impose screening to all women, with an extension of the age to younger age groups as early as 40 years old as we already figured...?

Read: https://cancer-rose.fr/my-pebs/2019/06/13/argument-english/

These new EU recommendations just jump to the front.
This current 2021 EU report states that for the 45-49 age range, "full details, including downloadable supporting documents for health professionals, will be available soon."

We hope these will be real scientific justifications and that the promise made to citizens after the French citizen consultation to provide support tools for an informed decision, including the decision not to be screened, will not be forgotten.

Cancer Rose est un collectif de professionnels de la santé, rassemblés en association. Cancer Rose fonctionne sans publicité, sans conflit d’intérêt, sans subvention. Merci de soutenir notre action sur HelloAsso.


Cancer Rose is a French non-profit organization of health care professionals. Cancer Rose performs its activity without advertising, conflict of interest, subsidies. Thank you to support our activity on HelloAsso.