EVALUATING THE AGE EXTENSION OF THE NHS BREAST SCREENING PROGRAMME
Research type
Research Study
Full title
EVALUATING THE NET EFFECTS OF EXTENDING THE AGE RANGE FOR BREAST SCREENING IN THE NHS BREAST SCREENING PROGRAMME IN ENGLAND FROM 50-70 YEARS TO 47-73 YEARS
IRAS ID
29856
Contact name
Julietta Patnick
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust
Eudract number
N/A
Research summary
The NHS Breast Screening Programme routinely invites women aged 50-70 years to come for screening every three years. In 2007 the government decided that the age range for screening would be extended to 47-73 years. Funds were not available for immediate roll-out of screening to all women aged 47-73, and this trial was proposed and agreed. There is uncertainty about the effects of screening outside the 50-70 age range, and the aim of the trial is to assess reliably the risks and benefits of additional invitations for screening before age 50 and, separately, after age 70.
When the extension of breast screening to women aged 47-73 was announced in 2007 the intention was to offer breast cancer screening to all women in this age range after 2012, but in 2011 the date was changed to 2016 at the earliest. Subsequently, Public Health England (now responsible for all screening programmes in England) stated that future decisions about extending routine NHS breast cancer screening outside the age range 50-70 years should await the emergence of reliable evidence as to its effects. This trial can provide this information.
Randomisation of small groups (cluster randomisation) of trial participants determines which groups of women are offered one additional screening invitation before age 50 and which are not, and which groups of women are offered additional screening after age 70 and which are not. So for each separate age range the trial will be able to compare over the following years those women in the clusters invited for screening and those women in the clusters not invited for screening. Women will be followed up by linkage to NHS records, including cancer and hospital records, to assess the risks and benefits of the additional screening. It will take until at least the mid-2020s before results are known.
The trial began in 2009 and eventually is likely to include at least two million women aged 47-49 and one million aged 71-73. It will involve about 71 of the 81 breast screening units in England. The units expected not to participate are mainly those using non-standard methods for inviting women for screening.
REC name
London - Harrow Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
10/H0710/9
Date of REC Opinion
24 Feb 2010
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion